JPS62169023A - Fat in body weighting meter - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To measure fat tissue weight in a human body electrically, by a method wherein a weak AC current is run through the body via an electrode and picked out from an electrode for detection to be converted into ohms, which is processed arithmetically. CONSTITUTION:A person to be measured puts a naked foot on an electrode 12 for foots to measure a foot-to-foot impedance. The measured value is introduced to an operation processor 28 to perform an operation processing of a specified formula. In this case, the operation processing 28 covers data for the person being measured inputted directly from a keyboard input unit 14 or through a memory 30 of a proper capacity and structure. The data for the person being measured include sex, length, year and lengths of hands and foots. The results of the arithmetic processing are shown on a fat quantity display section 16 and a body weight display section 18.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a body fat scale for measuring the weight of adipose tissue in the body.

[Conventional technology]

It is widely used to determine whether or not you are obese using the formula: [Height - 100) Judgment must be made based on the composition ratio. This composition ratio has a great influence on certain fields, such as slimming and other beauty treatments, and health management, so it is required to understand it accurately.

However, regarding the inside of the body, individual differences are extremely large, making accurate measurement difficult. Therefore, various measurement methods such as those described below are known.

・Underwater weight method ・Skin hold method ・Method based on total water content ・TOBEC method ・Using ultrasound The underwater weight method measures the body density and calculates the amount of fat (fat storage rate) in the body weight. To determine this, the whole body is submerged in water, the body weight is measured underwater, and the density of the body is determined. This method requires equipment and effort to submerge the entire body in water, takes about 20 to 30 minutes, and has the disadvantage that errors may occur due to the presence of body gas.

The skin hold method is a method of estimating adipose tissue weight by picking subcutaneous fat with a caliber, but the assumption that total fat weight and subcutaneous fat are definitely proportional is itself problematic, and its accuracy is questionable. be. Furthermore, technical training is required for the measurer to ensure uniform accuracy.

The method of calculating from the total body water content is to calculate the body water content from the degree of dilution of the substance, and then calculate the fat [%]. This method measures the amount of water in the body using measurement aids such as deuterium, and indirectly calculates the composition ratio of the amount of adipose tissue and lean body mass in the body from this value, and the accuracy is also ± Although it is about 0.8χ, it requires about 24 hours of measurement time in a place with experimental equipment.

The TOBEC method utilizes the principle of the impedance method. This is measured by the difference in electrical conductivity of the body when it is placed inside a large coil and when it is taken out. Although it only takes a few seconds, the disadvantage is that the device is large and expensive.

The ultrasound method is a safe and painless method for measurement, but like the skin hold method, it has the disadvantage of reduced accuracy because it is performed partially.

However, with these conventional techniques, some values can only be approximated, while others require special skill for determination, making it impossible to perform simple and accurate measurements.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

The present invention aims to provide a device for easily measuring the weight of adipose tissue in the body without using large-scale equipment or auxiliary substances for the body.
In particular, it is an object of the present invention to provide a device that electrically measures the weight of adipose tissue in the body by adding electrodes to a device similar to a simple weight scale and processing the obtained values.

[Means for solving problems]

To achieve this objective, the present invention utilizes an impedance method. In this method, a highly conductive substance, such as a gel-like material or a suitable metal, is brought into contact with the skin, and a weak alternating current is passed into the body through the electrode, which is extracted from a voltage sensing electrode and converted into ohms. In principle, parts other than fat contain a large amount of water and therefore exhibit good conductivity, whereas adipose tissue parts contain less water and therefore become insulating or non-conductive. The density of the body is determined from the number of ohms obtained in this manner, and from this value, the fat mass (%) and, if necessary, the fat weight are determined.

This purpose is to provide a body fat gravimeter having the structure described in the claims, i.e. a foot electrode that is brought into contact with the foot or a hand that is brought into contact with the person to be measured, in order to measure the impedance between the extremities of the body. This is accomplished by a body fat scale equipped with at least one hand electrode for the purpose of

〔Effect of the invention〕

The method of the present invention is a method in which an extremely weak current that cannot be detected by the human body is passed through electrodes that are in contact with limbs, etc., so it is completely harmless and will not cause any problems even in the elderly or young children without any awareness. Can be applied. The device can also be made compact, and there are no restrictions on the measurement location. Arithmetic processing of the obtained data can also be performed quickly and accurately by a microprocessor, and the drawbacks of the prior art as described above are greatly alleviated.

Therefore, it becomes possible to appropriately carry out subsequent beauty treatment and health management.

Before disclosing the present invention based on examples, basic matters regarding measurement using the apparatus according to the present invention will be explained.

In general, the factor that determines obesity in a human body often refers only to having a large body weight relative to height. However, in reality, it should be determined by how much fat weight the person has compared to the ideal healthy state. Therefore, it is difficult to obtain a correct value even if it is calculated using the above-mentioned Tsutsuyoshi formula [height - 100] Xo, 9.

Various formulas are known to actually calculate fat (%), but the following formula is used to calculate fat (%) from skeletal muscle mass (LBM).

Skeletal muscle mass = 0.4936 x height 2 / resistance + 0.333
2 x body weight + 6.493 Fat (χ) = (1 - (skeletal muscle mass / body weight)) / 100 Also, as a formula to calculate from body density (B D), body density =
1.1554-0.0841 X weight x resistance/height 2
Fat (χ) = (4,95/body density -4,5)・100
There is. Both of these equations are for men, but they can be expressed similarly for women by changing each coefficient. In addition, more accurate results can be expected by appropriately introducing correction coefficients based on age, limb length, etc. in addition to gender.

Since the apparatus according to the present invention applies the weight-in-water method, the latter equation is used in this example, but body water 1 (T
It is also possible to use other methods such as using BW).

Hereinafter, the conductivity measuring device according to the present invention will be explained based on examples.

〔Example〕

The body fat weight meter according to the present invention relates to a device that measures body fat weight by utilizing the fact that the relationship between adipose tissue and lean tissue in the body is closely related to the impedance of the body.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of a body fat weighing scale according to the present invention, and the overall shape is similar to that of a simple weighing scale, so-called a health meter.

The body fat weighing scale 10 includes electrodes 12 arranged so that the feet of the person to be measured come into contact with them, and a key human power section 1 for setting conditions.
4. A fat amount display section 16 and a weight display section 18 are formed. The electrodes 12 are configured so that the subject can perform measurements by touching a predetermined region with bare feet, but one or both electrodes may be brought into contact with the hand, as will be described later. Further, these electrodes can be switched and used by operating a suitable switch or by inserting an electrode lead plug into an electrode jack formed on the ice body. With this configuration, it is possible to arbitrarily select and measure the value between both feet, the value between one foot and one hand, or the value between both hands. By appropriately combining these, more accurate measurement results can be obtained.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the internal configuration of the body fat scale according to the present invention. The body fat weight scale 10 has the first
There are externally observable parts of the electrodes 12 shown in the figure, a keyboard input section 14, fat mass and weight display sections 16 and 18, and other electrical circuit elements. Foot electrode 1
A portion 20 indicated by a broken line including 2 is a table for weight measurement, and is electrically measured by a weight measurement unit 22. The impedance measurement section 24 receives input from the electrode 12, measures impedance by appropriate means such as a bridge method or a balance method, and generates a corresponding electrical output. In addition,
A switching circuit 26 is connected between the electrode 12 and the impedance measuring section 24, and performs switching when using three or both external electrodes (not shown). This external electrode can be formed, for example, as a hand electrode that is brought into contact with the hand of the person to be measured.

With this configuration, it is possible to measure the impedance between feet by simply placing the bare feet of the person on the foot electrodes 12. Further, by using a hand electrode and a foot electrode for contacting the hand as external electrodes on either the left or right side, it is possible to measure the impedance between the hands and feet of the subject.

Furthermore, by using both the left and right hand electrodes, it becomes possible to measure the hand-to-hand impedance of the person to be measured. It is expected that each measurement value will be a different value because the length of the body is different. These different values can be actively utilized for correction taking into account the physical constitution of the person being measured. Since such measurement modes can be selected very easily, accurate measurement values for the same person can be obtained by performing measurements in appropriate combinations. It goes without saying that if no special correction is required, it can be easily measured by any consideration.

The measured values of the weight measuring section 22 and the impedance measuring section 24 are led to the arithmetic processing unit 28, and are subjected to arithmetic processing according to the above-mentioned formula. In this case, arithmetic processing is performed including data for the person to be measured that is input directly from the keyboard input device 14 or via the storage device 30 having an appropriate capacity and configuration. Data for the person to be measured includes gender, height, age,
There are lengths of limbs, etc. It is also possible to perform more accurate arithmetic processing by inputting other conditions.

The results of the arithmetic processing are displayed on the fat mass display section 16 and the weight display section 18. These display sections can be shared, and the display can be switched as needed. Furthermore, in addition to actually measured and calculated values, it is also possible to display ideal values obtained from given conditions for reference at all times or selectively.

When determining the relationship between body adipose tissue and lean body mass using the body fat weight meter according to the present invention, there are the following advantages over previous methods.

■ Extremely quick and accurate measurements are possible.

■ It is harmless and highly safe as it does not use chemicals or other measurement aids.

■ Large-scale equipment such as a water tank is not required, and measurements can be made as easily as using a scale.

■ It is not influenced by the user's skill or intuition.

■ Since it can use battery power, it can be made into a portable device.

■ Measurement errors are less likely to occur.

■ Since no burden is placed on the person being measured, restrictions associated with measurement are greatly reduced.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an external perspective view showing a configuration example of a body fat weight meter according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a body fat weight meter according to the present invention. The correspondence of reference numerals in the figure is as follows. 10: Body fat weighing scale 12: Foot electrode 14: Condition setting section 16: Fat amount display section 18: Weight display section 22: Weight measurement section 24: Impedance measurement section 26: Switching circuit 28: Arithmetic processing section 30; Storage device

Claims (1)

[Claims] An in-body device for measuring the weight of adipose tissue in the body by measuring impedance between the extremities of the body and processing the measured impedance value and the measured values of physical conditions such as weight and height. A body fat weighing scale comprising at least one of a foot electrode to be brought into contact with a subject's feet or a hand electrode to be brought into contact with a hand in order to measure impedance between the extremities of the body. .