BIAvi – We measure the dangerous fat

The BIAvi measurement is a special BIA body analysis. BIA is called bioelectrical impedance analysis, sounds complicated but is simple. Impedance is the resistance in the alternating current circuit. The theory behind this is that different tissue types are differently good electrical conductors. Adipose tissue is a poor conductor. Muscles are good conductors. Thus, each tissue, whether bone, blood or organs such as lung or liver, have typical resistance values.

HOW BIAvi DIFFERS FROM OTHER BIOIMPEDANCE MEASURING DEVICES

The common BIA devices measure the body in longitudinal direction to in the best case measure the whole body resistance. Some measure from hand to foot, others from foot to foot. This trajectory is very rich in different, almost all body tissues except the contents of the head. Even more diffuse is the analysis of individual components by the fact that thin conductors such as the arms cause a higher resistance than the legs or even the trunk, which makes up only 5% of the total body resistance. Therefore changes in the abdominal area can not be detected by a BIA longitudinal measurement.

Prinzip einer BIAvi Viszeralfett-Messung
The BIAvi measures the dangerous fat directly where it is – Left: Influence of the impedance with increasing distance from the layer defined by the position of the BIAvi abdominal tool. Right: Schematic projection lines of impedance changes within the body.

The conclusion of the BIAvi developer

For this reason we chose the measuring section for our BIAvi directly on the belly. We measure the fat where it is, because only this deep belly fat has a particularly high risk potential. The designation for the BIAvi measurement is transimpedance measurement. Here we can measure the fat layers of the subcutaneous tissue directly below the measuring sensors, then the lower resistances of the muscle layer followed by the conductive visceral adipose tissue.


The BIAvi therefore measures the values directly on the belly and does not need any further information, such as the body weight. Therefore the measured values have such a high significance. The changes of the metabolically active visceral fat can thus be followed daily. In contrast to this, the under-skin fat behaves rather slowly. Therefore, skin fold measurements are not meaningful to indicate changes.

Summary:

Standard BIA analyzes – even with professional devices like those used in clinics – can not measure the visceral fat. BIAvi closes a technological gap and tackles the problem at the literally right place. The body weight degrades to a secondary size. Finally, affected persons can immediately identify the success of their lifestyle changes!