Conference rocks::weight_control

    	The latest issue of Hippocrates Magazine (July/August) has
    an article on the various body fat tests.  The author went and had
    her body fat tested by four different methods - near-infrared
    interactance (the Futrex-5000 Fitness and Body Fat Analyzer),
    calipers, underwater weighing and bioelectrical impedance.  She
    got numbers ranging from 16% to 21%.  The article discusses the
    accuracies/inaccuracies of the various tests, and is pretty good 
    at explaining how they're done.  Here is the "summary box" from
    the article:

    UNDERWATER WEIGHING:  Accurate within 2% provided that the lung
    test is included.  Omitting it may introduce an error of up to 5%.
    May be unreliable for postmenopausal women who have lost bone
    mass.  Cost: $25 - $45.

    CALIPERS:  Accurate within 3 to 4% - if the tester has some
    university training, knows exactly where to place the calipers,
    and measures at least three sites.  Not the best test for obese
    people, because the additional fat can make it difficult to test
    the right spots.  Cost: around $15.

    BIOELECTRICAL IMPEDANCE:  Accurate within 3 to 6%.  Should be done
    before, not after, a sweaty workout, because the equations that
    calculate fat presume the body contains normal amounts of fluid.
    May not work for people over age 79 because the machines are
    calibrated primarily for young adults.  Cost:  Usually around $20;
    may range from $5 to $50.

    NEAR-INFRARED INTERACTANCE:  Quick and simple, but the method's
    accuracy has been questioned because it estimates total body fat
    with only one test.  Cost:  Usually $4 to $25, up to $110.

    	Amy

   Interested in finding out your body fat percentage?

   One of the owners of the now-closed Anita Roberts salon in Marlboro still 
   does body fat composition tests using the submersion method.  You get 
   submerged in a 350 gallon tub of water and weighed underwater.  Then your 
   underwater weight and regular weight are both used to compute the 
   percentage of body fat.   The idea is that fat will tend to make you 
   float and therefore affect your underwater weight.  The submerssion
   method is the most accurate measure of the percentage of body fat.
   .0 has more information about the test.
    
   The guy who does the test is Bob Breeze.  He is a licensee of Covert Baley,
   the writer of the excellent books "Fit or Fat" and "The Fit or Fat Diet"
   and the inventor of the submersion method for measuring body fat.  Bob is 
   planning to do a dunk in the next few weeks if he can get enough people who 
   are interested.  The rate is $30 for Digital folks and $35 for others.  For 
   more information call (508)366-0414.

   Adam
  

	Thanks, Adam!

	I was wondering if they were still running them... perhaps
	I'll go and see how far off I am from my last dunk.

	Karen