Body composition measuring apparatus

#1. Field of the Invention

#The present invention relates to a body composition measuring apparatus for measuring the abdominal size of a human subject and for calculating an index of body composition based on the measured abdominal size.

#2. Description of Related Art

#With reference to the accompanying drawings, various embodiments of the present invention will be described hereinafter. In the drawings:

#FIG. 1 is a perspective diagram showing an external view of a body composition measuring apparatus 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention;

#FIG. 2 is a perspective diagram showing an external view of a frame 114 of body composition measuring apparatus 100 of FIG. 1;

#An embodiment of the present invention is a body composition measuring apparatus 100 provided with an abdominal width measurer (abdominal width measuring means). The abdominal width measurer measures the maximum distance in a lateral direction of the abdomen (hereinafter referred to as “abdominal width”) of a human subject 10 who is in the standing position, the abdominal width passing through the navel of human subject 10. Body composition measuring apparatus 100 has a foot-to-foot bioelectrical impedance measurer (foot-to-foot bioelectrical impedance measuring means) (a bioelectrical impedance device 170, which will be described later) for measuring foot-to-foot bioelectrical impedance of a human subject 10 and a weigher (weighing means) (a weighing device 160, which will be described later) for measuring the body weight of human subject 10. Body composition measuring apparatus 100 obtains a body composition index based on the measured abdominal width, foot-to-foot bioelectrical impedance, and body weight. The body composition index includes, but is not limited to, fat ratio of the trunk portion, total fat area of the abdomen, abdominal subcutaneous fat thickness, abdominal muscle thickness, abdominal subcutaneous fat area, and visceral fat area. In this embodiment, description will be given of a case in which visceral fat area is estimated based on the abdominal width.

#In the following, description will be given of body composition measuring apparatus 100 of the embodiment with reference to FIGS. 1 to 7. FIG. 1 shows a perspective diagram showing an external view of body composition measuring apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, body composition measuring apparatus 100 is provided with a base plate unit 190 on which human subject 10 stands, a rod (or a pillar) 192 that stands upright vertically on base plate unit 190, and a frame (abdominal width measurer) 114 supported by rod 192 so that the frame can move in a vertical direction. On the top surface of base plate unit 190, there is drawn a reference line 196 along which the toes of human subject 10 should be aligned.

#As shown in FIG. 1, provided on the top surface of base plate unit 190 are current supply electrodes 1a and 2a and voltage detection electrodes 1b and 2b. Current supply electrodes 1a and 2a and voltage detection electrodes 1b and 2b are parts of bioelectrical impedance device 170 (FIG. 4).