Utilizing Body Composition Analysis in Academic Research

Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis (BIA) body composition analyzers have become a cornerstone in academic research due to ease-of-use, safety, cost-effectiveness, and reliability. Body metrics provided - such as body water, fat, muscle, or cellular health - are crucial for studies in nutrition, sports science, epidemiology, and more.

 

BIA is an invaluable tool for researchers looking to study a variety of topics, and this article provides a brief overview of common topics!

 

Comparison of BIA results with "gold standard" devices is fairly common in the early stages of a specific BIA device being introduced to a new field of application or population.

 

For example, this paper published in the International Journal of Gerontology compares body composition results calculated using novel Back Propagation Artificial Neural Network (BP-ANN) with results measured using DXA, observing good predictive accuracy and precision. This sort of research helps reinforce the legitimacy of new mathematical models and algorithms. In this case, the algorithm was one developed and utilized by Charder.

 

 

To determine if measurement outputs are useful for medical treatment (such as the now commonly understood link between blood pressure and heart conditions), it is necessary to observe the correlation between body composition results (ex: Edema Index) and various medical conditions to determine how to make best use of them.

 

For example, this paper published in the Journal of Cardiovascular Medicine studied if the Edema Index (Extracellular Water ÷ Total Body Water ratio) had prognostic value in patients hospitalized due to acute heart failure, and observed that keeping the edema index lower in high-risk patients resulted in better health outcomes. This type of research would help determine that Edema Index is indeed important to monitor, as well as help set a cut-off point for increased risk.

 

 

BIA devices are commonly utilized to evaluate the effect of intervention. Sometimes the goal is to build a new training program designed to increase muscle; in other cases it might be studying if there are incidental increases/decreases due to different training methods.

 

This study published in Medicine and Rehabilitation evaluated how specific types of training would affect the bio-motor abilities of soccer players. During the eight week program, there was a decrease in fat, but not particularly significant, possibly due to the initial baseline level of physical fitness of players. "Coaches and trainers can use this information to tailor their training programs to athletes’ specific needs and goals."

 

Another common topic for intervention studies is change in body fat. Some medications can have side effects such as fat gain, and preliminary evaluation studies of medication are often interested in determining if such side effects exist, and if so, to what extent.

 

This study published in Obesity Medicine observed that an anti-depressive drug did not negatively affect weight loss efforts, which would be good news for those seeking to use this medication.

 

 

A major advantage of BIA devices compared to some other alternatives is low cost and safety. This makes it uniquely useful for measuring large groups of people and population-level studies. This allows researchers to compare different groups of people efficiently, studying whether their characteristics, lifestyles, or behavior can result in differences in body composition. (or lack thereof)

 

For example, this study published in the Journal of Sports Science & Health Advances utilized the MA601 Body Composition Analyzer to observe if students specializing in Humanities had different body composition compared to those specializing in Physical Education. It was observed that differences were relatively minimal, in large part due to similar levels of daily physical activity and diet.

 

New Concepts
For devices that have new or unique measurement outputs such as the Muscle Quality Handgrip Prediction function on the Charder MA601 and MA801 Body Composition Analyzers, exploring the validity of these new results can be a good topic of study. This paper published in PLoS One observed the link between muscle strength and cellular analysis, which is a key principle utilized by Charder.

 

There are countless research topics where body composition analyzers can be utilized! It is important to note that regardless of which measurements are used and what topic is being studied, it is highly recommended to use a medically certified analyzer such as those manufactured by Charder, to ensure accuracy and reliability.