Impedance algorthim for body fat measuremets

Philip David Brierley

Hi, is there any information available on the calibration equations used by the device that measure body composition. How do we know if ‘athlete’ mode was chosen? I ask because body fat seems suspiciously correlated to BMI, which would not be a surprise if height and weight were used in the calibration. Are the ‘raw’ impedance values available?

  

Comments

5 comments

Date Votes
  • Comment author
    Matt H The helpers that keep the community running smoothly. UKB Community team Access Team

    Hi Philip

    Thanks for your post. 

    Further information on the Body Composition Measurement data available in the UK Biobank resource can be found here on our Showcase site:

    https://biobank.ndph.ox.ac.uk/ukb/label.cgi?id=100009

    https://biobank.ndph.ox.ac.uk/ukb/refer.cgi?id=1421

    I hope this helps to answer your questions. 

    Kind regards, 

    Matt 

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  • Comment author
    Philip David Brierley

    Hi Matt, I have already read that info and it does not contain what I am after. I am after the info on how the data is calibrated. Is this available or is it propriatory?

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  • Comment author
    Philip David Brierley

    High Matt H, I guess this is a ‘no’? It is very important though.

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  • Comment author
    Matt H The helpers that keep the community running smoothly. UKB Community team Access Team

    Hi Philip,

    I've requested for our Data Analysts to look into this for you. 

    Many thanks, 

    Matt 

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  • Comment author
    Bethan Data Analyst

    Hi Philip, 

    We do not run the Tanita in Athlete Mode. This setting is designed for individuals with atypical body composition (typically those with high muscle mass or different body density profiles) and this applies to only a very small proportion of our participants.

    The Tanita device automatically retrieves existing participant information from the connected PC, including height, so no manual data entry is required. Although the Tanita also measures weight directly, the key body composition outputs (like body fat percentage) are calculated internally by the Tanita using its own proprietary equations.

    We do not have access to the raw impedance values used in these calculations, as these are not outputted by the device. 

    If you would like to know more about what calibration equations are used by the Tanita, your best bet would probably be to look directly within the manufacturers documentation. 

    Hope this was helpful! Thanks for using the community :)
     

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