Principles Of Estimating Body Fat Percentage - Tanita BF-689 Instruction Manual

PRINCIPLES OF ESTIMATING BODY FAT PERCENTAGE

Tanita Body Fat Monitor/Scales allow you to determine your body fat percentage at home as easily as you measure your weight.
What is Body Fat Percentage?
Body fat percentage is the percentage of fat in your body. Too much body fat has been linked to conditions such as high blood
pressure, heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and other disabling conditions.
Body Fat Ranges for Standard Children
Underfat
5
6
7
8
9
10
Female
11
Age
12
13
14
15
16
17
5
6
7
8
9
10
Male
11
Age
12
13
14
15
16
17
Underfat
Tanita's patented "foot-pad"
design sends a safe, lowlevel
electrical signal through
the body to determine its
composition.
Body Fat Percentage Fluctuations in a Day
Hydration levels in the body may affect body fat readings. Readings are usually highest in the early waking hours, since the body
tends to be dehydrated after a long night's sleep. For the most accurate reading, a person should take a body fat percentage reading at
a consistent time of day under consistent conditions.
Besides this basic cycle of fluctuations in the daily body fat readings, variations may be caused by hydration changes in the body due
to eating, drinking, menstruation, illness, exercising, and bathing. Daily body fat readings are unique to each person, and depend
upon one's lifestyle, job and activities.
2
1, 2
Healthy Overfat
Healthy Overfat
The BIA Method
Tanita Body Fat Monitor/Scales use the BIA (Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis)
technique. In this method, a safe, low-level electrical signal is passed through
the body. It is difficult for the signal to flow through fat in the human body,
but easy to flow through moisture in the muscle and other body tissues. The
difficulty with which a signal flows through a substance is called impedance.
So the more resistance, or impedance, the signal encounters, the higher the
body fat reading.
Obese
Body Fat Reference Curves for children
1
Targeted at BMJ (British Medical Journal)
Draft 1-AMP 19 June 2004
(by Dr Andrew)
Gallagher D et al. Am J Clin Nutr 2000,
2
72:694-701 Healthy percentage body
fat ranges: an approach for developing
guidelines based on body mass index.
Obese