The missing half of your annual labs

Blood tests show chemistry (glucose, lipids, hormones), but they can’t show structure: where fat is stored, how much muscle you carry, and whether your bones are quietly weakening.

Those three structural factors (visceral fat, skeletal muscle, and bone density) are independently tied to diabetes, heart disease, cancer, disability, and fractures. DEXA is the fastest, lowest-dose way to measure all three—objectively, in ~10 minutes. IAEA

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1) Fat quality matters more than weight — and DEXA sees it

Visceral fat (VAT) around your organs drives metabolic disease and cardiovascular risk far more than BMI or total weight. DEXA directly estimates VAT and central fat patterns validated against CT/MRI and shows stronger correlations with cardiometabolic risk factors than scale metrics. PubMed+1

• Cardiometabolic risk: In adults, DEXA-estimated VAT tracks more tightly with insulin resistance, blood pressure, HDL, and triglycerides than BMI or waist alone. PMC
• Central fat pattern: A higher android-to-gynoid fat ratio (from DEXA) is linked to worse lipid profiles and higher blood pressure, signaling elevated cardiovascular risk even when BMI is “normal.” PMC
• Cancer burden: In a 2024 population study, high visceral fat explained more total cancer than high BMI (population-attributable risk: ~9–12% for VAT vs ~5–8% for BMI), highlighting why “where fat sits” beats “how much you weigh.” PubMed

Bottom line: If you only track weight, you’ll miss the risk hiding in abdominal fat. DEXA shows it precisely and reproducibly. PMC

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2) Muscle is a longevity vital sign — and DEXA quantifies it

Low skeletal muscle (sarcopenia) and the combo of low muscle + high fat (sarcopenic obesity) are consistently associated with higher all-cause mortality. DEXA is the clinical standard to quantify appendicular lean mass and diagnose sarcopenia. PMC

• Mortality signal: A 2024 JAMA Network Open study of older adults found sarcopenia and sarcopenic obesity predicted worse survival, reinforcing the need to screen and intervene early. JAMA Network
• Meta-analytic evidence: Systematic reviews link lower lean mass to higher mortality independent of BMI, underscoring that body composition > body weight. PMC+1

Clinical payoff: Muscle mass is trainable. With a DEXA baseline, resistance training, protein optimization, and targeted programs can be measured in weeks, not guessed. PMC

3) Bone density predicts fractures — years before they happen

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