NONINVASIVE MEASUREMENT OF BODY COMPOSITION

THE ABILITY TO MEASURE BODY COMPOSITION, AS REFLECTED IN BODY FAT PERCENTAGE, IS ESSENTIAL FOR THE DIAGNOSIS, TREATMENT, AND RESEARCH INVESTIGATION RELATED TO OBESITY, MALNUTRITION, EATING DISORDERS (ANOREXIA/BULIMIA), DIABETES, HEART DISEASE, ATHLETIC TRAINING, AND PHYSICAL FITNESS. BASED ON PHYSICAL FEASIBILITY EXPERIMENTS AND PILOT STUDIES IN ANIMALS, A METHOD FOR BODY COMPOSITION MEASUREMENT IS BEING DEVELOPED. RATHER THAN DETERMINE THE VOLUME OF THE SUBJECT BY IMMERSION IN WATER, THE DIFFERENTIAL BUOYANCY ACTING ON THE SUBJECT IN SAFELY BREATHABLE ATMOSPHERES WHICH DIFFER IN DENSITY IS MEASURED. THE METHOD IS SAFE, PLEASANT, AND DOES NOT REQUIRE THE COOPERATION OF THE PATIENT. FURTHER, IT DOES NOT REQUIRE THE MEASUREMENT OF ESTIMATION OF THE RESIDUAL LUNG VOLUME, AND IT IS INDEPENDENT OF THE DISTRIBUTION PATTERN OF FAT. SINCE THE METHOD IS BASED UPON DIRECT PHYSICAL PRINCIPLES, IT DOES NOT REQUIRE CALIBRATION AGAINST ANOTHER METHOD. THE WORK IS AIMED AT OPTIMIZING THE PRECISION, SPEED, AND RELIABILITY OF THE METHOD THROUGH AUTOMATION OF THE MEASUREMENT PROCESS.