A new study shows that Amazon Halo's body fat percentage scanner performs better than the other body fat percentage scanners.
A body scan is one of Amazon's Halo Band subscription service features, which Amazon announced in August 2020.
Amazon Halo Scanner
Using the camera of your smartphone, you can access Halo. Users can take four pictures of their bodies, which are then combined into a 3D image, according to The Verge.
Amazon's machine learning tool calculates the body fat percentage of the user. When Amazon launched Halo, the company stated that it did an internal study to validate the feature.
The study was released, which was funded by Amazon, but it was conducted with experts. The conclusion is that the tool works well.
According to Diana Thomas, a mathematician who studied body weight regulation, the results show that Halo could be a benchmark for those looking to get more information about their bodies.
Thomas would not use it for scientific research, but it could give the users another data point. She said that Halo could provide users with more information, and if users have a high percent body fat flagged by the feature, it could be a warning to do some lifestyle changes, according to ZDNet.
Assessing Your Health
Body fat percentage can be a more accurate way to assess your health than your weight. Two people of the same size could have different amounts of fat relative to their overall weight and would have different health risks as a result.
Having a high percentage of body fat is linked to health issue such as diabetes and numerous heart conditions.
This percentage of body fat considered healthy vary among people of different sexes and ages. For example, women have more body fat than men naturally.
The study used data collected at two sites, one from Massachusetts General Hospital and one from Pennington Biomedical Research Center at Louisiana State University.
The study had 134 participants of varying body types and included 82 women and 52 men. The participants consist of Caucasians, Blacks, Asians, Hispanics, an American Indian, and multiracials. It is a small number of people, but that is typical with this type of study, which has to run people through expensive tests.
Each participant in the study had their body fat percentage calculated through an X-ray technique that shows fat distribution through the body that is called dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry or DXA, which is the gold standard.
The results from the scans were compared to Amazon's system, five scales that calculate body fat, and something called air displacement plethysmography, which uses a pod-shaped device that measures how the body of the person displaces the air.
The study found that the body fat percentages calculated by Amazon Halo Body were closest to the body fat percentages calculated by DXA. It performed better than the air displacement plethysmography device, which is usually used to calculate body fat by those studying weight and body composition but is tricky to conduct correctly.
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Written by Sophie Webster
