Standing-position BIA or supine BIA? A new answer to an old question
“Which method to use for a fast assessment of body fat percentage?“
K Zdešar Kotnik, T Robič and P Golja
Physiol Meas. 2015 Jul; 36(7):1453-68. doi: 10.1088/0967-3334/36/7/1453
In this study, researchers from the University of Ljubljana (Slovenia) compared fat estimates obtained with hand-to-leg BIA and leg-to-leg BIA, in standing and supine positions, to determine which BIA method is best for the fast assessment of body fat. Skinfold thickness measurements were used as the reference standard. An STA/BIA device (Akern) with Bodygram software was used to assess hand-to-leg measurements, while a TBS-215 device (Tanita) was used for leg-to-leg measurements.
The study found that body posture induced changes in impedance values large enough to significantly affect body fat estimates. The authors concluded that “compared to the reference … method, hand-to-leg BIA provides better estimates of body fat percentage than leg-to-leg BIA.” They also concluded by recommending methodological standardization and suggesting the use of different approaches to body composition analysis by means of direct BIA measurements.
Akern reminds readers that our company has endorsed the use of direct BIA measures since 1995 and has promoted standardization of the BIA technique since 2007.
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