Whether you are a professional practitioner, exercise scientist or someone focused on a weight change, the fact that you may have hopped onto a Bio-electrical Impedance Analyser (BIA) to measure your body composition is probably true. But, do you actually know what the numbers mean and how they can throw you significantly off track?
GlobalScout are leaders in professional human performance testing and tracking on an international scale and offer a deep dive into different technologies, protocols and data interpretation. This blog provided by GlobalScout founder Jaymee Dudley BSc outlines some important information that is an essential read.
What is BIA?
BIA, or bio-electrical impedance analysis, is a method used to assess body composition. Body composition refers to what your body is made of, and is typically broken down into components such as body fat, muscle, bone, and body water. By assessing body composition, you are provided with a deeper understanding of your body, where you store your weight, and which components are changing over time, rather than just your total body mass.
When you stand on a bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) machine, a small, safe electrical current is passed through the body via the metal electrodes on the base and/or handles. The machine then measures the resistance, also known as impedance, that the electrical current meets when passing through the body. Body fat, muscle, bone, and body water conduct electricity differently, with body fat providing more resistance than muscle and water.
Single-frequency machines send one current (typically 50kHz) allowing extracellular (outside the cells) assessment, whereas multi-frequency machines send multiple currents, with higher currents allowing assessment intracellular (inside the cells), as well as extracellular.
Why assess body composition?
- Track fat loss and muscle gain (not just weight changes)
- Get a clearer picture of your health
- Set smarter nutrition and training goals
- Identify hidden health risks
- Reduce risk of heart disease, diabetes and metabolic health issues
- Support healthy aging and reduced risk of frailty
Don’t just track weight, track what matters.
BMI v Body Composition
BMI (Body Mass Index) is a simple calculation of weight relative to height, giving a general idea of weight status but ignoring fat, muscle, and bone.
Body composition measures actual percentages of fat, muscle, and other tissues, providing a detailed, accurate picture of health and fitness.
Error is common when doing a BIA assessment based on incorrect data at the beginning. If you enter the wrong height, even by just a few centimetres, the results are highly skewed. Wearing clothing that is not recorded on the scanner simply adds mass to your results and there are huge differences between doing a scan before and after a workout. Do you take the data seriously?
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