---

Body fat monitor

Many individuals are concerned with their body weight for reasons of health and personal appearance. Increased amounts of fat in the human body have been associated with increased risks of serious medical complications, including cardiovascular problems, diabetes, and other adult diseases. It is generally known that an individual's body fat is related to caloric energy balance, which is the difference between caloric intake (calories consumed from food), and caloric expenditure. If an individual expends more calories than are consumed, he or she will lose fat. Conversely, if an individual expends fewer calories than consumed, he or she will gain fat. Weight management through reduction of excess body fat plays a vital role in maintaining good health and fighting disease. Medical evidence has shown that excess body fat poses a major threat to health and longevity. Obesity and overweight have reached world-wide epidemic proportions. Further, overweight and obesity are highly correlated with the incidence of high blood pressure and high cholesterol. The United Nations has identified three of the world's top ten health risks as obesity, high blood pressure and high cholesterol. Overweight and/or obesity can be empirically determined by calculation of either the Body Mass Index (BMI) or the lean body mass. The BMI is the product of the weight (in kilograms) of an individual divided by the height (in meters) squared. An effective way of controlling body fat is to monitor, on a regular basis, individual net caloric energy balance to establish an individual exercise regimen in which net caloric energy balance will be zero or negative. In consideration of health risks from obesity a number of instruments are commercially available to estimate the composition of body fat.

---