Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis

The bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) has been used in over two thousand medical studies. The BIA measures two values electrical resistance and electrical capacitance. These two values along with your height, weight, age and sex the computer can calculate your body composition, fluid distribution, basal metabolic rate and your phase angle.

Total body water (TBW) tells us the amount of water presently in your body. This is the best measurement for body composition (body fat:muscle mass ratio). Optimal body composition for a woman is TBW of 55% and for a man is 60%. Your water intake should replace your total body water every ten days. To find out what your amount should be, divide your TBW (in liters) by ten. This is the number of liters you need to intake through food and water. Remember that your food is 90% water.

The intracellular and extracellular water values show your cellular water balance. You want to have more water inside of your cell then outside. The first sign of decrease health is a shift of intracellular water to extracellular water. There are fifteen different reasons for this water shift and all are related to poor health.

The phase angle is the best measurement for prognosis of survival for people with HIV, cancer, kidney disease and liver disease, therefore it measures your resiliency or your tissue health. The higher the number the better. This measures the strength and fluidity of your cell walls. If you have strong fluid cell walls you have healthy cells. Your cell walls are made of fats, for which you need omega 3 fats, found in cold water fish and raw nuts, also omega 6 fats, found in vegetables. Our ancestors ate 50% omega 3 fats and 50% omega 6 fats, now we eat 97% omega 6 and 3% omega 3 fats. This doesn’t include the trans (bad) fats, which have no biological function.

Body cell mass is a measurement of all your metabolically active tissue (your muscles and your organs). Your organs don’t change size, so if your body cell mass increases or decreases it’s because you are gaining or loosing muscle mass. We don’t want to see a decrease in muscle mass.

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