Diagnosing Obesity

Diagnosing Obesity

  • Submitted By: blu58
  • Date Submitted: 01/05/2009 1:08 AM
  • Category: Science
  • Words: 2950
  • Page: 12
  • Views: 812

II. DISCUSSION

Background
Obesity is a common problem prevailing in the world today. It is a medical condition where the percentage of fats in the body is higher than the ideal body fat percentage of an individual. Fat tissue are usually located underlying the skin and around the joints and organ. Body fats are plays an important role in having a healthy skin and hair and storing energy for the body. It is also use in insulating body organ against shock, maintaining body temperature and promoting healthy cell function. The normal fat percentage for men is 18 to 23% and for women is 25 to 30%

Diagnosing Obesity
Obesity is a dangerous problem so one should now if he is obese. There are many ways to diagnose if a person is obese.
One way is by the pinch test method. It measures skinfold thickness. This is done by grasping the skin and underlying tissues at the bottom of the ribcage using your hands. If the thickness of a skinfold is more than 1 inch, it proves that one has an excess body fat. (Busch, F. 2000)
Another is by bioelectric impedance analysis. There are two methods of the BIA. One involves standing on a special scale with footpads called Bioelectric Impedance Analyzer. A harmless amount of electrical current is sent through the body, and then percentage of body fat is calculated. The other type of BIA, involves electrodes that are typically placed on a wrist and an ankle, and on the back of the right hand and on the top of the foot. Change in voltage between electrodes is measured. The person's body fat percentage is then calculated from the results of the BIA (Mathur,R. 2003)

In addition, Underwater weighing (hydrostatic weighing) is also used. This method weighs a person underwater and then calculates lean body mass (muscle) and body fat. This method is one of the more accurate ones, however, it is generally done in special research facilities, and the equipment is costly
One can also use the skin caliper method. This is done using a...

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