Bodystat® Wellness MarkerTM
"The goal is to foster improvements in global health by using scientific advances for the prevention and early detection and treatment of disease. Only 5% of medical people pay attention to early detection. If you could increase that 5% to 30%, it would extend lives, lower costs and do all sorts of good things." (British Financial Times, Wealth Quarterly, June 29, 2007).
Early detection, for example of cancer or other wasting disease, is the goal of the Bodystat®1500MDD unit with its Wellness MarkerTM.
The Wellness Marker has been newly introduced in the Bodystat®1500MDD device for the benefit of further measurement analysis on the athletic, normal healthy and obese population groups.
Body cells are nonconductive at a low frequency of 5 kHz and restrict the flow of current. High Impedance values are then measured in the human body.
At the higher frequency of 50 kHz, the body cells become more conductive and a lower Impedance value is measured.
The integrity of cells can be characterised by the ratio between measured impedance values at 50 kHz and 5 kHz. This ratio is also called the Wellness Marker.
The “normal” value for a healthy person would be around 0.845; more athletic, muscular highly trained individuals would have lower values. In different “unhealthy” situations this ratio would creep closer to 1.00.
Therefore, the lower the ratio, the healthier and more hydrated the body cells; the higher the ratio, potentially the less healthy the body cells.
The Wellness Marker could therefore be used as a generalised state of health of the body cells.
Since no predictive equations are required using only the raw impedance data to assess the Wellness Marker, neither subject weight, gender, age, height nor race group, is required as subject input data.
Hence Wellness Marker values can therefore be compared geographically and across countries internationally without attempting to apply a predictive equation to fit a particular population group with its inherent potential problems and margins of error.
Uniquely, the professional user of a Bodystat®1500MDD unit, in addition to the standard body composition results of body fat and lean mass, can combine the measurement data of FFMI (Fat Free Mass Index), the Wellness Marker and Phase Angle, to more fully interpret the health status of an individual, as illustrated in the example below:
Looking at the % fat and BMI values in isolation only, would probably lead to a conclusion that the subject should merely attempt to lose weight by exercising and improve her dietary intake regime.
However, without the further data analysis of the FFMI and Wellness Marker values, the above suggested basic lifestyle change could prove to be totally insufficient.
More importantly, a possible serious medical condition may be overlooked with potentially unfortunate consequences for the subject.
Hence there is a need to ensure that the correct medical diagnosis is made using the latest body composition technology available to the health professionals.
Two useful reference papers are provided for further reading:
Height-normalized indices of the body’s fat-free mass and fat mass: potentially useful
indicators of nutritional status.
Theodore B Vanltaiie, Mei-Uih Yang, Steven B Heymsfield, Robert C Funk, and Richard A Boileau
Am J C/in Nuir 1990; 52: 953-9.
Body composition: the fat-free mass index (FFMI) and the body fat mass index (BFMI)
distribution among the adult Austrian population – results of a cross-sectional pilot study.
Babak Bahadori, Elisabeth Uitz, Katayoun Tonninger-Bahadori, Iris Pestemer-Lach,
Markus Trummer, Rene Thonhofer, Helmuth Brathand Erich Schaflinger
International Journal of Body Composition Research 2006 Vol. 4 No. 3: 123–128
Low fat-free mass index and very high fat mass index at hopsital admission are associated with increased length of stay.
Kyle UG, Pirlich M, Schuetz T, Lochs H, Pichard C
Clin Nutr 2002; 21:11
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