Engineers at Texas Instruments have devised a way to transform the home bathroom scale into an advanced body composition system worthy of a health club or doctor's office. Using a new analog front end (AFE) chip, the engineers say, future home scales will be able to distinguish between a person's fat and muscle mass for a fraction of the cost of the systems being used in professional settings.
"We're trying to bring the performance down to the consumer level," Karthik Soundar, systems application manager for health and fitness at TI, told us. "That way, anybody could use it at home and get a lot more information than a typical scale would offer today."
The AFE4300 chip could bring body composition measurement capabilities to the home bathroom scale. (Source: Texas Instruments)
The key to the new technology is the development of TI's AFE4300 chip, an analog front end that lets a scale make the bioelectrical impedance measurements needed to distinguish muscle from fat. In such measurements, the system pumps a small amount of current (less than a milliamp) into a hand or foot through an electrode and then measures the impedance after the current travels through the body to the other hand or foot. The method is based on the fact that electrical current passes differently through muscle than it does through fat. Electrodes for such products are typically incorporated on the top surface of the scale for foot measurements, or on a pair of handles for hand measurements.
The AFE4300 contains two separate signal chains. One targets weight measurement, and the other targets body composition analysis. A 16-bit analog-to-digital converter is multiplexed between them. The device's multiple channels enable impedance measurements between body extremities for a full picture of a person's fat and muscle mass.
TI says the chip will let bathroom scale manufacturers add high-end measurement capabilities to products that sell for $100 to $200. In contrast, today's low-end body composition systems sell for $200 or more, and high-end professional machines often run between $2,000 and $5,000.
The technology would essentially serve as an upgrade for the low-end bathroom scales that offer weight measurement and body mass index (BMI) calculations but cannot distinguish fat from muscle, Sondar said. "A lot of machines just have a weight scale and maybe a body mass index, because BMI is just a calculation and doesn't require any additional hardware."
He said the technology could incorporate advanced features, such as the ability to calculate total body water, which gives an indication of hydration. The chip is also expected to find a place in gaming applications such as Nintendo's Wii Fit. "We are definitely targeting the consumer market here," Sondar said. "We believe that a person who's reasonably serious about health would be willing to spend $100 or $200 for these features."
Charles, I have wondered for quite some time as to how a system such as this works. In years passed I was tested every three months for BMI that involved percent body fat relative to muscle, etc etc. This is a program I volunteered for some time ago and is sponsored by one of the hospitals in our city. In the early days of this program, a "standard" method of calculating body fat was used; i.e. calipers. I'm told there is a significant improvement when using the scales and the medical practitioners now use only this method. Quite impressive and much less time consuming. This means you get the bad news and the lecture even sooner.
Well, Jdeslich, I'm impressed that a product that sells for $60 can offer such an analysis. It will be interesting to see if the wide range of medical devices being introduced these days will have inexpensive consumer counterparts.
Hey, Jdeslich, you have a scale that does this for $59.95? How does it calculate fat versus muscle. Does it have a device that sends a signal through the body?
So it goes in a scale that tells me my % body fat, please give me more details. I have a % body fat scale that cost me $59.95 not $100-$200. OK, so may the TI chip does something better, but why should I believe that with out some specifications?
I would be interested in learning a bit more about the algorithm used for this. At first look, it would seem that the body's resistance would change significantly by where you carried your fat. For example, it is more dangerous to have the fat be internal on / near the organs rather than on the outside of the muscle structure. In addition, would body composition throw this off?
I'm hoping this technology can modernize those nasty Height/Weight BMI charts. I have no problem with the Wii telling me I'm obese each morning, but for my 16 yo son, it's a different matter.
He has always been on the short side of average at each of his annual trips to the pediatrician (which prompted many a wonderful discussion of how to interpret statistical results) and hormones have kicked in overtime now that he is 16. He is in training for his 3rd degree black belt and has 8 hours of formal training each week in addition to his own workouts. The training has paid off and he has recently bloomed quite broad shoulders and chest and the six-pack abs that I never had. He had his height and weight checked at school along with all of the other kids and later received a letter informing him that his Height/Weight ratio has flagged him as being Obese. The letter also included pamphlets and information on how he should start exercising along with a list of health problems he will be facing in the future if he does not change his habits. He was pretty upset.
I'm all for facing the facts, but it would be nice if our measurement models produced facts, not fiction.
I'm right there with you, Beth. I still can't decide if this a good or bad idea, though having this in my bathroom MIGHT make me think twice about eating that cupcake!
I think TJ is right in his assessment that it will hit gyms before homes.
Hmmm. Still debating if this would be something that would make my list of to-buy gadgets although there is obvious benefit to knowing your body makeup. But then again, who needs the pressure of the constant reminder.
In all seriousness, given the fitness craze and our increasing focus on health and wellness, this chip puts really important monitoring capabilities well in reach of the average consumer and that's a good thing.
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