It’s Time to Get the Whole Picture
A Patient’s Guide to Measuring Body Fat and Lean Tissue Mass
What Is Advanced Body Composition® Assessment?
An Advanced Body Composition® exam is a quick, low dose X-ray exam that measures the three main tissues of the human body: fat, lean mass, and bone. It may help your health professional assess what level of exercise or intervention is needed to maintain a good ratio between fat and lean muscle mass.
Who Is It Suitable For?
An Advanced Body Composition® assessment is suitable for people on weight-management programs, as well as athletes in training. It is also used for monitoring certain diseases such as Sarcopenia and Lipodystrophy and the effects of some medical therapies.
For those on weight management programs, the results may help determine your risk of developing obesity-related conditions such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome and osteoarthritis. The exam precisely measures how much fat is present and where the fat is distributed in the body.
Knowing where the fat is located may make a considerable difference in health outcomes. For instance, too much fat around abdominal organs such as the liver can be much worse than excess fat just under the skin as it contributes more greatly to obesity-related diseases.
What to Expect to During Your Exam
A whole body composition scan can take as little as 6 minutes. We offer this scan as a self-pay service for $40. The minimal investment of your time and resources — compared to the results you will receive — can make a huge difference in achieving your overall health goals.
During your exam, you will lie comfortably on a padded table while the DXA unit, then an X-ray system, will quickly scan your body. Radiation exposure during this exam is extremely low and involves no injections, invasive procedures or pain.*
Our Patients Come First
Because our primary goal has always been to deliver the highest quality care to our patients, we have added Advanced Body Composition® assessment to our practice.
We have chosen the Horizon® DXA system by Hologic as we believe it offers the best technology available. Please contact us if you have any questions or would like to schedule an appointment.
*Blake GM, et al. Comparison of effective dose to children and adults from dual X-ray absorptiometry examinations. Bone 2006;38:935–942.