Effectiveness of thigh-to-thigh current path for the measurement of abdominal fat in bioelectrical impedance analysis

We present a new method measuring body impedance using a thigh-to-thigh current path, which can reflect the abdominal fat portion more sensitively and can be conveniently applied during the daily use on a toilet seat. Two pairs of electrodes were installed on a toilet seat to provide current and to permit voltage measurement through a thigh-to-thigh current path. The effectiveness of the method was compared with conventional foot-to-foot and hand-to-foot current paths by simulation and by experiments referenced to computed tomography (CT) image analysis. Body impedance using three different current paths was measured, and abdominal CT images were acquired for eight subjects. Measured body impedances were compared with the visceral to subcutaneous fat ratio (VF/SF) calculated from the CT-determined abdominal fat volume. The thigh-to-thigh current path was about 75% more sensitive in abdominal fat measurement than the conventional current paths in simulation experiments and displayed a higher VF/SF correlation (r = 0.768) than the foot-to-foot (r = 0.425) and hand-to-foot (r = 0.497) current paths.