The Hidden Fat Scanner

This doesn't always mean healthy

I give it 6 months until Tanita or some other manufacturer comes out with a home hidden fat scanner thingamajig. It is just one more obsession to prey upon.

Jan: Well, people have been aware of visceral (internal) fat for a while and that it is far more dangerous than subcutaneous fat when it comes to heart disease, diabetes, etc. I don't see why it would explode now. Anything's possible though.

If I see a diet pill claiming to reduce internal fat, I’ll treat myself to a nice double cheeseburger.

I think the makings of an explosion is when something starts being referred to in the regular media, instead of just in the scientific/medical communities. When they start with the scare stories like the man who has normal weight and 4x more visceral fat than he should have, like on this article. That is when it spreads like wildfire.

My husband's grandmother suffers from this internal fat. She's in her 80's. All of her life she's been overweight, but the thing that is killing her is not "seeable" fat, but internal. That keeps me going to loose the 55 lbs.

Alrighty then!! Maybe Dr.J will find one under his tree this Christmas!! We like our toys!! We used to use hands on physical diagnosis, then X-rays, followed by CT Scans and finally MRI. Or it can be looked at as...we could make the same diagnosis for no cost, then a few dollars, then 100's and now 1000's of dollars!! Really, I think %99.9 of diagnoses can be made with the history of the present illness plus the physical exam. Nothing else is needed.

As I say, Throw out the scale and release the hand-held MRI scanner, so that I can check my fat/muscle ratio rather than weight. This clearly shows that the BMI facter os out of date and what matters the most is how much fat you have in your body.

But you still need to put some fat, even some saturated fats in your diet. The liquid fats helps absorb some vitamin A, and all of vitamins E and K. Saturated solid fats (NOT hydrogenated oils or shortenings) absorb the animal form of vitamin A, and vitamin D. Trans fats, however, clogs up arteries and it's an antinutrient ingredient.

James- I didn't know about the saturated solid fat absorbing vitamin D...an important cancer prevention vitamin. I was trying to avoid all saturated fat after my trainer said it all has to be stored first before it can be used.

It still all boils down to diet, not whether a person is thin or fat - although fat people do tend to eat a poor diet as a general rule (I've never met a fattie yet who didn't eat copious amounts of rubbish).

Our whole society is absolutely obsessed with looks. So you get idolized supermodels collapsing on catwalks because they're so dosed up on drugs that they can't see straight and haven't eaten for ten days. We put athletes on pedestals who can kick a ball 100 metres even though they're up on charges for assault or rape. All signs of a sick society.

Internal fat? No surprises there, considering what most people live on.

Leanne-I think its slightly unfair to say that all "fatties" (a rather pejorative term by the way) eat poorly. I eat no fast food or prepared foods whatsoever, and have been eating mainly fresh veggies, fruit, whole grains and lean meats for the last couple of years. Although I have lost a lot of weight, I would still likely be considered a "fattie" by many standards(175 lbs, 5'9"). I know the response to this is that there are always exceptions, and yes, many fat people eat quite poorly, but I know thin people who eat much worse than I do-some that eat out 2-3 times daily! My main point is that you shouldn't generalize, especially so judgementally!

That said, I agree with you that we are too obsessed with looks. I have been losing weight for health reasons, but many people assume that you do it just for appearance. I see it as a nice side effect of having a healthier heart and stronger muscles!

I think the extreme example of the man who looks healthy but is carrying 4x the amount of internal fat than he should is cited as an attempted wake-up call for those thin people who think that they can eat junk and never get off the couch, just because they still look like society says they should!

This sounds like a neat little tool. In my experience, exercise has helped me reduce my internal fat quite a bit. I'm guessing that if your total body fat % is fairly low, your internal fat will be pretty low as well.

Jan, there actually already is a scale that measures visceral fat - the Tanita Ironman series. They're extremely expensive, over $100. I am not sure if all models have this feature or not, but I thought it was neat. Who knows how accurate it is though.

I agree with Spectra and am intrigued by such a tool.

I've lost over 100 pounds, and until I can afford plastic surgery, I am left with folds and folds of excess skin. Body-caliper tests and the electric current that Tanita-like scales use show me as having a very high percentage of body fat because they can't distinguish between the skin and fat. Perhaps with a tool like this, I would finally know what my true body fat percentage is!

Thanks for the info, Claire. I find the Tanita to be incredibly inaccurate though, so I wonder if it is as inaccurate for the visceral fat.

Jen, the most accurate test is the water movement one, where you get into a bathtub type thing and they measure the water that was moved. I've had it done a few times. Calipers can be accurate if done by a skilled person, but can also be very innacurate.

Who are these super-human British researchers? They must have scanned every single person living in England with their nifty scanner thingy to be able to say that 40% of the population has critically chubby organs. Because if they didn't, then they are just taking (what?) data and extrapolating. No doubt there are loads of people in England with visceral fat, but are meaningless statistics going to help anyone? Wouldn't the average peraon would just figure that he was in the majority, skinny-organ group, that being the most statistically likely option? I am always skeptical about who funded the research, as all research is funded by some interested person or corporation.

dela said:
James- I didn't know about the saturated solid fat absorbing vitamin D...an important cancer prevention vitamin. I was trying to avoid all saturated fat after my trainer said it all has to be stored first before it can be used.[...]

Dela, what data did your trainer show you to support their statement?

Here are some interesting studies on saturated fat and human health you may want to read:

Saturated fat is important in the process to incorpoate calcium and vitamin D into bones.
1. Watkins, B A, et al, "Importance of Vitamin E in Bone Formation and in Chrondrocyte Function" Purdue University, Lafayette, IN, AOCS Proceedings, 1996
2. Watkins, B A, and M F Seifert, "Food Lipids and Bone Health," Food Lipids and Health, R E McDonald and D B Min, eds, p 101, Marcel Dekker, Inc, New York, NY, 1996

SFA's lower Lp(a), a substance in the blood that correlates with heart disease.
1. Dahlen, G H, et al, J Intern Med, Nov 1998, 244(5):417-24; Khosla, P, and K C Hayes, J Am Coll Nutr, 1996, 15:325-339;
2. Clevidence, B A, et al, Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol, 1997, 17:1657-1661

SFA's boost immune system responses
Kabara, J J, The Pharmacological Effects of Lipids, The American Oil Chemists Society, Champaign, IL, 1978, 1-14; Cohen, L A, et al, J Natl Cancer Inst, 1986, 77:43

SFA's are needed for the full utilization of essential fatty acids. Elongated omega-3 fatty acids are better retained in the tissues when the diet includes adequate saturated fats.
1. Garg, M L, et al, FASEB Journal, 1988, 2:4:A852;
2. Oliart Ros, R M, et al, "Meeting Abstracts," AOCS Proceedings, May 1998, 7, Chicago, IL

And, saturated 18-carbon stearic acid and 16-carbon palmitic acid are the preferred foods for the heart...
1. Lawson, L D and F Kummerow, Lipids, 1979, 14:501-503
2. Garg, M L, Lipids, Apr 1989, 24(4):334-9

Saturated fats, IMO, are not the evil we're repeatedly told they are - the context of the overall diet, I think, is much more important than the percentage of saturated fat in it.