MEDICAL
InBody Application in Diabetes
Body Composition Analyzer is a valuable tool for doctors as it provides useful information to easily understand their overweight patients or patients with risk factors associated with diabetes. That information includes the parameters such as body fat percentage, total body water, lean body mass, and visceral fat area. The visceral fat area has an important contribution to diabetics because of the association between high visceral fat levels and diabetes. InBody technology provides accurate measurements for body composition through its four core technologies.
What is Diabetes?
Diabetes is a lifelong condition that causes a person’s blood sugar level to become too high.
There are 2 main types of diabetes:
- type 1 diabetes – where the body’s immune system attacks and destroys the cells that produce insulin
- type 2 diabetes – where the body doesn’t produce enough insulin, or the body’s cells don’t react to insulin
Type 2 diabetes is far more common than type 1. In the UK, around 90% of all adults with diabetes have type 2.
from NHS UK
Type 2 Diabetes has been linked to obesity and high levels of visceral fat. Physicians need to understand their patient’s body composition to assess health risks for diseases like diabetes. Understanding body composition can influence the occurrence of diabetes and in some cases, improving body composition can lessen conditions of diabetic conditions.
Why is body composition analysis an
effective tool for diabetes programs?
Studies have proved InBody DSM-BIA body composition analyzers are an effective tool for managing patients’ diabetic risks and symptoms. InBody products do not rely on empirical data. Therefore, the outputs generated by the device accurately reflect the patients’ body composition changes.
In less than 60 seconds, an InBody Test provides a comprehensive Result Sheet to help professionals:
– Obtain objective measurements of muscle, fat, and visceral fat to assess disease risk and obesity
– Monitor outcomes of interventions aimed to improve glycemic control and prevent worsening of complications related to diabetes
– Detect fluid imbalances resulting from inflammation
DANGERS OF EXCESS FAT
Visceral fat plays a key role in the development of metabolic and cardiovascular disease…”
Kang et al., 2015
FLUID IMBALANCE FROM DIABETIC STATE
“…diabetic peritoneal dialysis patients do appear to have increased extracellular fluid compared to their nondiabetic counterparts.”
Davenport & Willicombe, 2009
BENEFITS OF BIA IN DIABETIC POPULATION
“The evaluation of changes in body fat depots by bioelectrical impedance conveys additional information over changes in standard anthropometric indices…in predicting changes in the glycemic control and lipid levels in patients with type 2 diabetes.”
Hancu & Radulian, 2016
VISCERAL FAT ANALYSIS
Understand severity of diabetes risk
Current methods of estimating visceral fat measures are indirect and imprecise, making them a poor tool for overall health risk assessments and long-term tracking. InBody provides a visceral fat estimate that has been linked to increased risk of hypertension, high cholesterol, and diabetes.
Waist circumference measurements serve as an indirect indicator of overall and visceral obesity; however, this method is imprecise and inadequate for monitoring changes over time. By using InBody to assess body composition, medical professionals can rely on accurate and consistent measurements to understand their patient’s risk for diabetes and/or other health conditions. As InBody’s visceral fat area is closely linked to diabetic risk, outputs including the Edema Index (ECW/TBW ratio) is also useful for tracking diabetes-related inflammation. This data will provide diabetes professionals with a better indicator for which factors may be causing health risks and set better prescriptions for change.
MUSCLE-FAT AND SEGMENTAL LEAN ANALYSIS
Monitor muscle and fat distribution
Diabetic risk increase is driven by both excess fat mass and low muscle mass, however, body composition methods for diabetic risk are inaccurate or inconsistent. Quantification of muscle and fat mass by region provides a more in-depth view of segmental and overall body composition and allows for better diagnosis of diabetes risk and guidance of treatment options.
Diabetes is often associated with excess fat, however having insufficient muscle mass is just as detrimental and increases diabetes risk. Leg muscles are the largest muscle group in the body and therefore serve as a driver for glucose uptake; low leg muscle mass is associated with increased risk of insulin resistance.
With InBody, medical professionals can assess and monitor a patient’s composition of muscle and fat. Outputs such Segmental Lean Mass and Leg Lean Mass provide deeper insight into the composition of leg muscle as well as the storage of fat across the body. By monitoring these factors and setting specific treatment programs to address the patient’s unique physiology, physicians and educators can track the progress and success of treatments and interventions.
SEGMENTAL ECW/TBW WATER ANALYSIS
Monitor fluid accumulation in each body segment
Systemic inflammation caused by excess visceral fat and inflammatory hormones increase fluid retention and a patient’s risk for developing comorbidities, such as cardiovascular and renal disease. Direct and objective measures of body water can increase detection of water retention and reduce risk of secondary health conditions linked to diabetes.
By using InBody, medical professionals can track whole body ECW/TBW, a marker of inflammation and fluid imbalance, through the direct measurement of extracellular and total body water. Monitoring the Edema Index (ECW/TBW) provides an assessment of fluid accumulation in the extracellular space resulting from compromised cardiovascular function.
These measures are provided for the whole body as well as ratios specific to each segment of the arms, legs, and trunk to identify where fluid imbalances may be occurring allowing for more precise analysis and earlier indication of truncal or leg edema, aiding cardiology professionals to develop more effective fluid management strategies to improve patient outcomes.
BODY COMPOSITION HISTORY
Track changes in muscle, fat, and fluid balance to chart progress
The best way to prevent or reverse diabetes is by making healthy-focused behavioral and lifestyle changes. However, health professionals often have a hard time keeping patients engaged in a diet and exercise regimen. With a comprehensive body composition report, InBody devices show patients the changes that ordinary weight scales are incapable of showing and provide an educational outline to start a discussion towards lifestyle change. In addition, patients and providers can use the Body Composition History section to chart their progress throughout interventions and make adjustments to optimize results and health outcomes.
SKELETAL MUSCLE INDEX
Identify frailty risk and sarcopenia
Diabetics patients tend to lose muscle mass. This loss in muscle mass tends to increase with the duration of diabetes, thus leading to the development of other conditions, including sarcopenia. InBody provides a skeletal muscle index (SMI) output that allows for the monitoring of skeletal muscle mass to help prevent or identify sarcopenia.
It is well known that skeletal muscle mass is important to monitor for diabetics. This results from glucose not being utilized to assist in building muscle as well as decreased physical activity causing muscle mass to deplete. This can also cause increased fatigue and further reduction of physical activity and function. The resulting decrease in muscle mass experienced by these patients increases the risk for other conditions such as sarcopenia and impaired mobility.
Sarcopenia is the loss of skeletal muscle mass, which decreases functional mobility and quality of life and increases risk of hospitalization and mortality. Sarcopenia is often associated with aging; however, it can occur in a variety of populations due to sedentary behavior or even disease. The SMI is used in order to assess and conveniently monitor skeletal muscle mass to aid in the diagnosis of sarcopenia. SMI is calculated as the sum of appendicular lean mass, normalized to height.
With the prevalence of muscle loss in diabetics and the association diabetes and sarcopenia, monitoring risk for sarcopenia in diabetics is imperative. Using the SMI output on InBody results will allow medical professionals to identify the risk of sarcopenia in easily identify increased frailty risk and promote education and intervention.
Why do endocrinologists trust InBody?
Biometric data is gathered by InBody’s four core technologies to deliver quick, accurate and precise results. These technologies allow you to trust that the results reflect your patients’ true health from the inside out.
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