Preview: Body Composition and Calorie Profile

ericgu — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 02:24:00 GMT

We have been doing some design work around storing body composition information, and would like your comments on the following types. Does the type make sense to you as a whole, do the field names and descriptions make sense, is there something missing, etc.?

Our initial scenario was to store the data that is collected by body composition scales – information like % body fat, muscle mass, bone mass, that sort of thing. As we normally do as part of our data type design, we look at other places this sort of data might come from, to make sure that the data type we come up with has enough flexibility to store the information from various sources.

That led us into an interesting exploration of the various technologies for measuring body composition.

After a fair bit of discussion about how to represent the data, we created a new type named Body Composition, where instances of the type store individual body composition measurements. This type different from types like Lab Test Results, where we bucket together a set of measurements into, well, a “set of measurements”. We think that it will be easier to find the information you’re looking for with this approach.

Here’s the type as it is currently defined. As usual, required fields are bold.

Field Name	Data Type	Description
when	date-time	The date and time of the measurement
measurement-method	codable-value	The technique used to obtain the measurement. Example: bioelectrical impedence, DXA, Skinfold (calipers) Vocabulary: body-composition-measurement-method
body-part	codable-value	The body part that is the subject of the measurement. Examples: Left arm, head, torso. Vocabulary: body-composition-body-parts
measurement-name	codable-value	The name of the measurement Examples: body fat, body muscle. Vocabulary: body-composition-measurement-names
value	BodyCompositionValue	The value of the measurement

where BodyCompositionValue is a new complex type. It stores either a weight value (like bone mass), or a percentage value (like % fat).

Field Name	Data Type	Description
mass-value	weight-value	A body composition measurement stored as a mass.
percent-value	percentage	A body composition measurement stored as a percentage.

In the body composition type, the measurement method stores the technology used. The vocabulary has the following entries:

Near-infrared interactance
Skinfold (calipers)
Hydrostatic (underwater) weighing
Bioelectrical impedence
Air Displacement
DXA/DEXA

Body part is an interesting ones. While most of the technologies only give an overall measurement, the DXA technology can give readings for individual parts of the body (ie the body fat % of your left arm is 8%). If this field is not present, the measurement is for the entire body.

Measurement name defines what quantity is being measured. The vocabulary currently defines the following entries:

Body fat percentage
Body fat mass
Body lean percentage
Body lean mass
Bone mineral density
Body bone percentage
Body bone mass
Body water percentage
Body water mass

The actual measured value is stored in the value element. A weight-value is used for mass measurements, and a percentage for percentage measurements.

Calorie Profile

Some of the technologies used for body composition measurement also provide a guideline for how much someone might eat to maintain their current weight. We decided to add a type to store that information and similar information that might be generated through a calorie calculator or a skilled human.

This type is very simple – it just stores the kind of goal that you’re storing, and the calorie value.

Field Name	Data Type	Description
when	date-time	Date and time the goals were created
goal-area	codable-value	The goal. Examples: Maintain weight, lose weight slowly, gain weight. Vocabulary: calorie-profile-goal-areas
calories	general-measurement	The number of calories to support the goal. Examples: 2716 calories/day

Not included

Some devices produce additional information (such as visceral fat rating), which we have omitted from the data type because we could not find an objective way to define the information.

Request for interest: New data type to store body composition

timsell — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 19:05:00 GMT

The body composition data type allows the user to store information on various properties of their body such as percent body fat, percent body water, muscle mass, and other properties that help describe the composition of the human body. A user’s body composition changes as a person goes through life due to various circumstances such as diet, disease, exercise, and other lifestyle changes. By storing this data in HealthVault, a user will be able to record their progress toward their objectives. They can also use the tool as a preventative measure against some diseases such as heart failure, where some of the early symptoms would include sudden increase in weight and percent body water content.

If your application would find utility in such a type, please reply to this post (preferred) or use the "contact me" link to send an email if you wish your feedback to be private. Please express your interest in working with us on this data type by Monday, March 24, 2008.

HealthVault Data Types : Body Composition

Preview: Body Composition and Calorie Profile

Request for interest: New data type to store body composition