What does an InBody do?
InBody Technology is the next evolution in BIA and body composition analysis. This innovative approach provides accurate and precise direct measurements of the entire body with the speed and ease of traditional BIA. Body composition is a method of breaking down the body into its core components: fat, protein, minerals, and body water. It describes your weight more accurately and provides a better glimpse into your overall health than traditional methods. Body composition analysis can accurately show changes in fat mass, muscle mass, and body fat percentage.
What is Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis (BIA)?
Bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) is a method used to measure the body’s components, including muscle mass, body fat, and total body water. Alternating low and high-frequency electrical currents are sent through the water in the body via contact with electrodes to measure impedance. The impedance is used to determine total body water (TBW), which can then be used to derive your fat-free mass—the portion of your body that does not contain fat, including your muscle and bone—and then body fat.
How it works
When an electrical current is sent through your body, components such as body water, fat, muscle, and bone present varying levels of resistance. Body water is highly conductive and makes up a significant percentage of your body. Therefore, the greater the amount of body water, the less resistance there is.
The body is composed of trillions of cells. Each of which is protected by a cell membrane that separates the inside of the cell (intracellular) from the outside (extracellular). Therefore, leading this to be reactance.
Impedance: The combination of resistance and reactance. BIA devices use to determine your body composition and are measured in ohms (Ω). BIA defines the human body as a cylinder and uses two mathematical concepts to describe the relationship between impedance and body water:
- Volume of a cylinder (Volume = Length x Area)
- Characteristic of impedance: Impedance is inversely proportional to cross-sectional area and directly proportional to the cylinder’s length (Impedance = Length ➗ Area).BIA can determine the volume of total body water. From there, body composition is determined, including muscle mass and body fat percentage.
Revolutionizing BIA Technology with InBody
InBody’s medical-grade body composition analyzers rely on four pillars of technology:
- Multiple frequencies- InBody uses various frequencies ranging from 1 kHz to 1 MHz to provide precision body water analysis.
- 8 point tactile electrode system- When the human body comes in contact with an electrode, resistance occurs. To accurately measure the opposition in the human body, it is essential to control the measurement location.
- Direct Segmental Measurements- Estimates the total body composition. InBody provides individualized feedback for better tracking of progress to help you achieve your goals.
- No Empirical Estimations- Empirical equations give some sort of accurate body composition but don’t consider that muscle mass decreases over time with age. Therefore, we don’t include it because it’s not truly real.
To learn more about InBody, click here to visit their website.
