Professional Level Health & Wellness Screening Tools
For Health & Wellness Professionals
Body Composition Analyzers, Mobile Wellness Screening Systems & Blood Pressure Kiosks for:
Health Promotion • Fitness • Corporate Wellness • Chiropractors • Physicians • Parks & Rec • Schools & Universities
Click Here for "Body Fat 101"
We are a worldwide leader in the development, manufacturing and sale
of:
- Near-Infrared Body Composition Analyzers
- Mobile Wellness Screening Systems
- Automated Blood Pressure Screening Stations
Futrex is the ONLY Body Composition Analyzer that provides you with an analysis of Essential, Reserve AND Excess Body Fat
There is a common misconception that all body fat is bad. In truth, some body fat is needed to protect the person’s health as well as supplying a reservoir of energy for performing various body functions.
To help clients better understand this, the all Futrex Professional Body Composition Analyzers now subdivide total body fat into three separate categories:
Weight of Essential Body Fat - This amount of body fat is needed to protect the body from infectious diseases and to protect the internal organs from bruising damage.
Weight of Reserve Body Fat - The amount of additional body fat that does not cause any medical risks, and provides a reservoir of “fuel” for use by the body.
Weight of Excess Body Fat - The amount of body fat that is over and above the combination of Essential Body Fat plus Reserve Body Fat. Excess Body Fat causes the risk of serious health problems such as strokes, heart attacks, diabetes and certain forms of cancer.
This critical information allows fitness and wellness professionals to better guide clients in their quest to be healthier and increase their fitness levels.
Call
Today: 301-791-9220
or
e-mail:
futrex@futrex.com
Click
Here to Request Additional Information
Measuring Body Fat with Near Infrared Light
What
is Body Composition?
Body
composition is simply the ratio of lean body mass to fat body mass. Too much fat
can lead to health problems like heart disease, diabetes, high cholesterol and
other serious conditions. Too little body fat can be just as detrimental as too
much. If people can keep their body fat at a reasonable level, they will be healthier,
happier, and, of course, look their best.
This
makes monitoring percent body fat a key component of any weight loss or fitness
program. Health and fitness professionals have long recognized the importance
of measuring the body fat of their clients.
The
most successful of them know how body fat analysis can help grow their business,
increase their profits, and show clients the positive results of their hard work.
Futrex’s patented Near-Infrared Body Composition Analyzers have helped thousands
of physicians, health club owners, chiropractors, personal trainers, physical
therapists, and others do exactly that.
Why
Measure Body Fat at All?
Percent
body fat is known to be a key factor in determining fitness. It is also a known
indicator of disease risk. Weight alone is not a reliable indicator of good health.
Obesity
is a known risk for many serious medical conditions including heart disease, diabetes
and even certain forms of cancer.
Weight
(pounds on the scale) does not distinguish between pounds that come from body
fat and those that come from lean body mass or muscle. Carrying too much fat is
what makes a person obese.
Body composition analysis is a proven benefit for fitness & wellness
professionals. Quick, easy, and NON-INVASIVE body fat testing is invaluable.
Whether
you think of them as body fat testers or body composition analyzers, The FUTREX
professional system is the ideal choice for body composition analysis:
Body
fat testing has never been easier to provide. The Futrex® Near-Infrared Body Fat
Analyzer is the revolutionary tool health, fitness, and athletic professionals
use today.
With
several body fat testing methods to choose from, none come close to the accuracy,
reproducibility, AND convenience of Futrex. Calculate body fat and hydration levels
in just 60 seconds with Futrex.
Body composition testing using hydrostatic methods is expensive and inconvenient. Skin fold body fat testing requires
the same technician to complete the body fat test to ensure accuracy. In addition,
body fat testing with skin fold calipers can become increasingly unreliable for
obese clients or patients. DEXA testing can only be done in hospitals. Bioelectrical
Impedance Analysis (BIA) Body Fat Scales require strict pre-test protocols
and cannot be used on children of a certain age range, pregnant women, or on individuals
with cardiac implants (pacemakers or defibrillators).
The
FUTREX professional system is the ideal choice for body composition analysis:
•
Provides a direct measurement of percent body fat and hydration levels
•
No pre-test protocols to follow
• Non-invasive and easy to use
•
Use it on anyone, anywhere, anytime
•
Gold Standard Accuracy
• Superior Near-Infrared Technology
• Lightweight
& Portable
Single
Site Measurement -- How Does It Work?
Futrex offers the only method
of measuring body fat that uses completely safe, Near-Infrared light to directly
measure percent body fat. U.S. Government research has determined that the midpoint
of the biceps has a direct correlation with the body’s overall fat level.
During
operation, the Futrex sends a safe, Near-Infrared light beam into the triceps
at specific wavelengths that fat will absorb and lean mass will reflect. The light
absorption is measured to determine body fat -- it’s that simple!
Test
results, which are traceable to underwater weighing, are instantly displayed,
for your customers to see.
Compare
The Technologies
Body
Composition for Body Builders
Gold
Standard for Body Fat Measurement
The
official method of measuring percent body fat is hydrostatic weighing. In this
approach, the person sits in a seat slung from a sensitive scale. The person is
then lowered into a water tank until totally submerged. The buoyancy, which is
related to the difference in weight between measurement outside the water and
when fully immersed in water, is used to calculate the percent body fat. This
calculation can be done because there is a significant difference in the density
of fat compared to the density of muscle. The method measures the combination
of subcutaneous and intramuscular fat.
Unfortunately,
hydrostatic weighing is inconvenient to use. Therefore, an alternate method that
has similar accuracy to hydrostatic weighing must be used.
Limitations
of Using Skinfold Calipers
Skinfold calipers were developed as a low-cost alternative to hydrostatic weighing.
The measurement is performed by pinching the skin and measuring its thickness
at either three or five sites on the body. These “pinch thicknesses” are entered
into mathematical equations that calculate the percent body fat.
In developing the equations, researchers used a large group of typical college
students as the test subjects. In this population it was properly assumed that
the subcutaneous fat (the amount measured by pinching the skin) is approximately
equal to the intramuscular fat. This assumption is true for most of the population.
However, it is not valid for bodybuilders where intramuscular is typically five
times or more larger than the subcutaneous fat. Therefore, using calipers to estimate
the percent body fat of bodybuilders yields results that are much too low.
The
FUTREX Approach
About 20 years ago, the U.S. Government’s research laboratories in Beltsville,
Maryland, demonstrated that percent body fat can be accurately measured using
harmless low energy light. The research proved that the amount of fat in a body
part could be accurately determined by analyzing the change in the light as it
went through the body part.
The
government researchers made one other fundamental discovery:
That
there were specific sites on the human body where the local percent fat is directly
proportional to the percent fat of the total body. They further proved it didn’t
matter whether you were a super-athlete, a bodybuilder, or a couch potato, that
a measurement using light on just one of those body sites provided the same percent
body fat as the official hydrostatic test.
Futrex
uses this accurate, yet harmless light to measure the combination of the subcutaneous
and the intramuscular fat, thus providing accurate total percent body fat. Over
100,000 of similar light interactance instruments are currently being used by
professional sports teams, law enforcement agencies, college sports teams, etc.
What
Percent Body Fat Should Body Builders Have?
When
champion body builders get tested with calipers, their percent body fat appears
to be very low, e.g., 3%. However, when the same body builders are measured using
the official hydrostatic procedure, their true percent body fat is actually between
12% and 18%. Why this difference? It occurs from three different items:
· What body builders are trying to accomplish
· The “Gold Standard” method
of determining body fat
· Limitations of using skinfold calipers.
What
are Body Builders Trying to Do?
Simply
stated, body builders desire to highlight their body’s muscular content. To accomplish
this, they perform an exercise regime that significantly reduces the subcutaneous
fat and yet retains the intramuscular fat. The subcutaneous fat is located directly
under the skin and hides the body’s muscular development. Thus, the body builders’
exercise program must reduce this subcutaneous level as much as possible. Intramuscular
fat is the fat layers that are located within the muscles and make the muscles
look larger.
Certainly,
different types of athletes desire different relationships between subcutaneous
and intramuscular fat. For example, a pro football wide receiver must have as
low a percent fat as possible, typically 4% or less, to provide maximum speed
and agility. However, body builders are not attempting to have speed and agility.
Their desire is to provide the maximum visual impact of their muscular development.
To do this, they must minimize the amount of subcutaneous fat and they must retain
a significant amount of intramuscular fat.
Bodybuilders
gain and retain intramuscular fat through diet and lack of aerobic exercise. This
limited cardio work thereby avoids the use of stored intramuscular fat for fuel.
