Bioengineering approach to non-invasive measurement of body composition

Measurement of body fat percentage is essential for medical care and research. The "gold standard" method for humans is underwater weighing, which is clearly inappropriate for infants, sick people and non-human animals. The corresponding criterion method for animals is comminution of the carcass followed by extraction of the fat with a volatile solvent such as ether. Our goal has been to develop a method for body composition (fat percentage) for use in animals and humans which is non-invasive and minimally intrusive, independent of variation in body conformation and fat distribution, and reasonable in cost. In one variant, our approach to this problem has been to move Archimedes' principle "on to dry land." The subject's volume is determined by measuring the differential buoyancy in comfortably breathable light (low density) and heavy atmospheres. In another, we use "structured light," in which a pattern of illumination is cast on the patient. The image is acquired using a video camera and the geometrical spatial coordinates of a large number of points on the surface of the subject are acquired. This permits the computation of the surface area and volume of the subject; which, combined with the weight, determines the fat percentage.