A body fat meter is a widely available tool used to measure the percentage of fat in the human body. Different meters use various methods to determine the body fat to weight ratio. They tend to under-read body fat percentage.
In contrast with clinical tools, one relatively inexpensive type of body fat meter uses the principle of bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) to determine an individual's body fat percentage. To achieve this, the meter passes a small, harmless, electric current through the body and measures the resistance, then uses information on the person's weight, height, age, and sex, to calculate an approximate value for the person's body fat percentage. The calculation measures the total volume of water in the body (lean tissue and muscle contain a higher percentage of water than fat), and estimates the percentage of fat based on this information. The result can fluctuate several percentage points depending on what one has eaten and how much water one has consumed prior to the analysis.
Read more about this topic: Adipose Tissue
Famous quotes containing the words body, fat and/or meter:
“Whatever men you take, keep the idea of man intact: let your soul wait whether your body does or not.”
—D.H. (David Herbert)
“Not fat but the greatest possible suppleness and strength is what a good dancer wants from his nourishment—and I could not even guess what the spirit of a philosopher might wish to be more than a good dancer. For dance is his ideal, and also his art, and finally also his only piety, his “service to God.””
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“His meter was bitter, and ironic and spectacular and inviting: so was life. There wasn’t much other life during those times than to what his pen paid the tribute of poetic tragic glamour and offered the reconciliation of the familiarities of tragedy.”
—Zelda Fitzgerald (1900–1948)