seca mBCA Test
What is a seca Test?
The seca mBCA Test is a fast and accurate method of measuring body composition. A standard seca mBCA Test with a Fitnescity partner involves standing on a glass platform and holding a sensor bar while a low voltage electric current is passed through the body to calculate fat and lean mass, visceral fat, total body water, and extracellular water.
Most people are used to stepping on a scale now and then. But monitoring weight – while helpful – is not a precise way of assessing wellness or fitness. Body composition measurement with seca mBCA can look beyond weight and the traditional body mass index (BMI) to determine body fat distribution.
How does seca mBCA work?
seca mBCA is a highly reliable technology for measuring body composition and is capable of collecting segmental fat, lean, and bone measurements in less than a minute.
The Technology
The seca mBCA Test uses Bio Impedance Analysis (BIA) technology to determine body fat percentage and more. As the name suggests, this technology measures the ability for biological tissue to impede the rate at which an electrical current can travel through the body. Because fat mass is a non-conductor of electrical charge, it causes a greater resistance to electrical current than muscle mass. Using thoroughly researched formulas, the seca mBCA uses calculations to predict the amount of fat mass, fat-free mass, visceral adipose tissue, and more.
Your Appointment
What happens during a seca mBCA Test? You will arrive to the test center 15 minutes prior to your appointment having followed the proper pre-test protocols. The location may have you sign additional paperwork before taking you back to their testing space. Before beginning the test, you will remove your shoes and jewelry. The test administrator will guide you to stand on the machine’s sensor platform while holding a handrail with fixed-grip positions, to ensure proper body positioning and ensure reproducibility. The test will take less than a minute.**
What are the benefits of a seca mBCA?
Whether your goal is to lose, gain, or maintain your weight, seca mBCA provides an in-depth body fat analysis including segmental fat mass, lean mass, and visceral adipose tissue.* Knowing this information about your body is crucial for optimizing your wellness, preventing disease, and tracking change over time. Most people are accustomed to stepping on a bathroom scale every now and then, but monitoring weight – while helpful – is not a precise method of assessing wellness or fitness.
Look beyond the bathroom scale.
Have you ever been surprised or frustrated by your weight after starting a new training plan or diet? This is not unusual, as most people do not fully understand the daily fluctuations that happen in the body or what factors can impact weight. seca mBCA is a great monitoring tool because it allows you to see where your fat and muscle are located and how their ratios are changing. Sometimes, when in a caloric deficit or when macronutrient intake is unbalanced, the body can actually draw energy from muscle mass rather than fat stores during exercise. Regular seca mBCA tests can help ensure you are gaining or losing mass the way you want to and help stay on track for your goals.
BMI vs. Body Fat Percentage
BMI is one of the most popular methods of determining how healthy one’s weight is for their height. However, this method has numerous failings. The body is comprised of different substances which decrease in density from bone (the most dense) to fat (the least dense) with muscle in-between. Combinations of different substances can result in similar weights despite drastically different body compositions. For example, a lean individual with high muscle mass can weigh the same as an overweight individual with low muscle mass.
Because BMI is based solely on height and weight, it does not take into account what factors contribute to those values. This is one of the reasons why body composition scans are so valuable. A seca mBCA is able to accurately isolate fat and lean mass in each part of the body to provide the most accurate image of your overall wellness.
Note: BMI is a valuable measurement for evaluating the stress on joints as a result of weight. Every pound of body weight places four to six pounds of pressure on each knee joint, irregardless of contributing factors.
How do I prepare for a seca mBCA?
Following the proper testing protocols for a seca mBCA is important to ensure accuracy:
Do not eat or drink water during the two hours prior to testing.
Do not consume diuretics (coffee, tea, etc.) three hours prior to testing.
On the day of your test, do not exercise prior.
Empty your bladder before testing.
Wear light workout clothes and ensure all jewelry is removed.
Please refrain from bringing children to your appointment as staff will not be able to care for them whilst you test.
How often should I test?
How often you should test depends on the intensity of your training/nutrition plan. We typically recommend testing every 3, 6, or 9 months, but seca mBCAs are uniquely suited for more frequent testing.
Frequent Monitoring
seca mBCAs are safe, affordable, and completely non-invasive, making them especially suitable for frequent, longitudinal tracking of body composition and metabolic changes over time. If you are entering a bulk or cut, or training for a race or competition, you may want to check-in on your body fat composition every month (or more) to ensure you are making progress toward your goals.
Combining Tests for Best Results
A common problem people experience when trying to change their body composition, is not fully understanding how diet and exercise affect muscle growth and metabolism. Cutting calories too much or overexercising can sometimes have the opposite effect you’d expect: Metabolism can slow or your body can break down muscles for fuel instead of building them.
Getting frequent seca mBCA Tests is a great way to ensure your body composition is changing how you want, but won’t give you a comprehensive picture of what’s happening inside your body. A Resting Metabolic Rate Test (RMR) is the perfect companion for a seca mBCA. This test measures how many calories your body burns per day at rest and is critical for designing a personalized and effective nutrition plan.
What results are included with a seca mBCA?
Your results will include Fat Mass/Fat-Free Mass, Skeletal Muscle Mass, Visceral Fat, Total Body Water/Extracellular Water, and more. See below for a detailed breakdown:
Fat Mass/Fat-Free Mass
The medically precise distinction between fat mass and fat-free mass is important when weight changes occur. This is especially true for customers that are overweight, obese and malnourished
A metabolic unhealthy person with insulin resistance, for example, nearly exclusively loses water when commencing with weight reduction treatments, which is why assessing fat mass individually is so essential to prevent misinterpretations.
Skeletal Muscle Mass
The development and retention of skeletal muscle mass plays an important role in malnourished individuals, sports medicine, and weight loss. The seca mBCA Test shows the individual values for each of the individuals’ extremities as well as their torso.
Quantifying muscle mass is essential when monitoring weight changes in overweight and obese subjects. It is essential that the majority of existing muscle mass is preserved when reducing weight in weight management and diet programs.
An interesting area of application for assessing or monitoring muscle mass is in the sports medicine field when it comes to determining the fitness level and controlling trainings, physiotherapies and rehabilitation.
Visceral Fat
The higher the visceral fat value, the higher the risk of cardiometabolic illnesses. With the seca mBCA, negative trends can be detected early in order to initiate corresponding treatments and therapies.
The easy and quick assessment of visceral fat is an essential brick for estimating the cardiometabolic risk. Therefore, it has become an established value especially overweight and obese individuals.
Total Body Water/Extracellular Water
The medically precise assessment of total body water and extracellular water is essential in nephrology to better evaluate the dry weight.
The distribution of fluids detects edema which are often found in cardiology or other fields of internal medicine like pneumology or hepatorenal, which mostly also require hospital nutrition aid.
In sports medicine the management of fluids is valuable for fluid management to prevent dehydration and maximize individual performance.
The determination of body water also helps to better understand weight loss situations in weight management, diabetes, cardiology or general wellness where great amounts of water are lost when commencing diets due to for example insulin resistances.
What is body composition?
Body fat, otherwise referred to as Adipose Tissue, is a connective tissue found throughout the body that regulates metabolism by communicating with both organs and the central nervous system through the release of hormones. The presence of sufficient body fat is an important part of a healthy body and plays several important functions, but becomes dangerous when it builds up in excess.
Adipose Tissue
Adipose tissue increases as a result of fat cells growing in both size and number. Consuming too many calories over a long period of time causes the size of fat cells to grow and be stored across the body. Dieting or other weight loss strategies can shrink the size of these cells, but once created they cannot be destroyed. Larger fat cells are more resistant to insulin, leading to increased risk of Type II diabetes and cardiovascular disease. This is part of the reason why increased levels of fat in the body are associated with heart disease, stroke, Type II diabetes, cancer, and early mortality.
There are three main types of adipose tissue that perform different and very important functions in overall body function:
White Fat
White fat is what one typically thinks of when talking about “body fat.” It is designed for fat storage and found mostly commonly around the belly, hips, and thighs. This is the fat that you can grab in your hand (subcutaneous) or accumulates around your organs (visceral). White fat cells secrete over 50 types of hormones, enzymes, and growth factors which drive food intake, insulin sensitivity, and insulin secretion. An excessive amount of white fat disrupts hormone function, causing a number of health issues such as heart disease, stroke, Type II diabetes, cancer, and early mortality.
Brown Fat
Brown fat’s primary function is to produce heat in cold temperatures, protecting the body from hypothermia. Because this happens by breaking down sugar and fat to create energy, brown fat is also involved in regulating the metabolism of these substrates.
Brown fat is highest in infancy and decreases with age.
Beige Fat
Beige fat cells have a combination of white and brown fat cell characteristics. They are typically found within white cell clusters near the collarbone and spine. These cells are a combination of other fat cell types because although they are believed to be derived from white cells (through a process called “browning” which is a result of exposure to cold temperatures, good nutrition, and exercise), they burn energy like brown fat cells.
Just as not all fat is created equal, the location of all fat is not equal either. Brown fat is found in the upper back and under the clavicles while white fat typically collects around the belly, hips, and thighs. However, the most dangerous place for white fat to develop is deep below the skin’s surface, where it can’t be seen with the naked eye. Let’s talk about the types of places fat can be found:
Subcutaneous Fat
Subcutaneous Fat is the layer of fat you can hold in your hands, located just below the skin’s surface and typically accumulating around the waist, hips, back, butt, and thighs. Subcutaneous fat cushions bones and joints, but too much can increase the risk for adipose-related diseases.
Visceral Adipose Tissue
Visceral Adipose Tissue (VAT) is white fat which accumulates deep in the abdominal cavity and wraps around the digestive organs, pancreas, intestines, liver, and heart. High amounts of VAT are associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer. Visceral Adipose Tissue is often one of the reasons why an athletic person will measure at a higher body fat percentage than they expect – This fat is not visible to the eye and doesn’t decrease as a result of fitness alone.
It is well-established that both the distribution and volume of fat, especially Visceral Adipose Tissue, is a predictor of long-term wellness. While normal amounts of visceral fat pad and protect organs, an excess amount of VAT is strongly associated with metabolic syndrome and increases risk for cancer, stroke, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and hypertension. Excess VAT can impact lifestyle by increasing the risk of dementia, depression, arthritis, sexual dysfunction, and sleep disorders. Storing excess fat around the organs increases the production of inflammatory substances that interfere with hormones that control appetite, weight, mood, and brain function.
What is a “normal” body fat percentage?
The pounds of fat and lean mass which are considered healthy for each unique body depends on a number of variables including height and age. So, in order to evaluate if your fat mass is within normal limits, we use the body fat percentage measurement to make everyone’s unique data comparable.
Fitnescity uses population data to compare your results with Fitnescity customers who are similar to you. After receiving your Fitnescity Dashboard, you will be able to see how your body fat percentage compares to Fitnescity test population averages for those of the same age, gender, and race as you.
FAQs
Why should I test with Fitnescity?
By booking with Fitnescity, you receive easy-to-understand digital insights, a personalized dashboard that allows you to view your progress over time, and a physician follow-up call so you can go over your results in depth.
Find more answers or chat with a team member in our Help Center
* Individual location results may vary
**Individual location process may vary
Fitnescity does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your doctor or a qualified medical professional if you have any questions about your results.