Helping you feel better

References - Health Risk Reduction

1. Sunder M. Toward generation XL: anthropometrics of longevity in late 20th-century United States. Econ. Hum. Biol. 2005 Jul; 3(2):271-95; Adams K.F., Schatzkin A., Harris T.B., Kipnis V., Mouw T., Ballard-Barbash R., Hollenbeck A., Leitzmann M.F. Overweight, obesity, and mortality in a large prospective cohort of persons 50 to 71 years old. N. Engl. J. Med. 2006 Aug 24; 355(8):763-78.

2. Peeters A., Barendregt J.J., Willekens F., Mackenbach J.P., Al Mamun A., Bonneux L. Obesity in adulthood and its consequences for life expectancy: a life-table analysis. Ann. Intern. Med. 2003 Jan 7; 138(1):24-32.

3. Merck Manual 18th Edition. Merck Research Laboratories, NJ, USA. 2006. p.58.

4. World Health Organisation BMI classification.

5. Gallagher D., Heymsfield S.B., Heo M., Jebb S.A., Murgatroyd P.R. and Sakamoto Y. Healthy percentage body fat ranges: an approach for developing guidelines based on body mass index. Am J Clin Nutr 2000; 72:694-701.


Body fat percentage (%)
A range of body fat monitors/scales can be purchased for between about $130 to $350.
These estimate your body fat % by using Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis (BIA) to help calculate your body fat.
They work by passing a safe, low electrical current through the body which travels through lean muscle quicker than it does through fat.

The resulting measurement, along with your weight, height and gender is incorporated into a formula to calculate your body fat percentage. For example, healthy 50 year old Caucasian males and females would typically have body fat percentages between 11 to 23% and 23 to 35%, respectively [Gallagher D., Heymsfield S.B., Heo M., Jebb S.A., Murgatroyd P.R. and Sakamoto Y. Healthy percentage body fat ranges: an approach for developing guidelines based on body mass index. Am J Clin Nutr 2000; 72:694-701].