Bringing The New Measure of Childhood Obesity Home
On Monday 5th September new gender-specific body fat reference curves for boys and girls were added to the standard range of UK growth charts of BMI and waist circumference for healthcare professionals. Incorporating the findings of this two-year study of almost 2,000 children. Today, Tanita is launching a new range of Family Body Composition Monitors for use in the home.
Available from John Lewis and priced between £60-£130, the new range comprises of five contemporary glass and silver coloured scales, offering in-depth measures of body composition for adults in addition to body fat percentages and healthy ranges for children from the age of seven.
As healthcare professionals now recognise, scientific evidence has demonstrated the importance of monitoring body fat, the component of overweight that specifically leads to health problems. This is especially important with children as normal growth and development can make monitoring weight or BMI (body mass index) inaccurate. Not only do boys and girls develop fat at different stages in life, muscle is denser than fat so a heavy child may be muscular.
Despite parents being more concerned about childhood obesity, recent research has highlighted two startling facts; the majority of parents are not able to tell if their own child is overweight - and many find it easier to talk to their off-spring about sex and drugs than they do their size. Equipping parents with the option to monitor their child's body fat as they grow provides parents with the added confidence that they are making the right choices and ensuring that health management becomes a normal and positive part of family life.
The Family Body Composition Monitor allows adults to understand how changes in age, daily fitness, diet or health routines affect their body over time and encourage their child's body fat to say within the healthy ranges as they grow. In addition to weight, body fat % and total body water %, using Advanced Dual Frequency BIA Technology in-depth information can be provided about muscle mass, abdominal fat level, metabolic rate and physique rating.
Tanita's Body Composition Analysers utilise Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis (BIA) technology to make an indirect measurement of body composition. A safe electrical signal is sent through the body via footplates on the scale. BIA is based on the fact that lean tissue, such as muscle and blood, contain high levels of water and electrolytes and therefore acts as a conductor of an electrical signal. Fat tissue is comparatively anhydrous and acts as a resistor to the flow of an electrical signal. Increasing levels of fat mass result in a higher impedance value and correspond to higher levels of body fat.
The BIA technology used on the home use monitors is based on the same advanced technology found in Tanita's Professional Body Composition Analysers widely used by doctors, medical centres and by professional athletic teams.
Editor's notes:
www.tanita.co.uk
Free guide for parents 'Facing The Taboo' - designed to help parents raise the sensitive issue of weight with their children. Written by childhood health specialists Helen Croker, Dr Paul Chadwick and Prof Jane Wardle from the leading charity Weight Concern.
For further information contact:
Jo Greaves e: jo@decent-exposure.co.uk t: 01243 371 584
