Did you know that you shouldn’t be drinking Coffee (or alcohol) Before your Body Scan ??
The type of Body Composition Analysis we do uses a scanning process called Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis (BIA for short). BIA sends safe, low-level currents through the body via hand and foot electrodes. The resistance to flow of the current determines the difference between muscle mass, fat mass (including visceral and subcutaneous), water
and mineral. The resistence the currents encounter (known as impedance) are measured, and from there, your body composition is derived.
The amount of fluid in your body (your level of hydration) has an impact on the impedence of current through carious parts of your body… so anything that influences your hyrdation can have an impact on the test results.
Coffee and Alcohol in the body can effect results
Caffeine and alcohol consumption (and in fact the use of any duiretic) cause dehydration in your muscles, affecting your test results. … so we recommend :
- NOT having Caffeine within 3hrs and alcohol within 24hs of your test.
- a normal level of hyrdation (so don’t drink more or less than you normally would)
- emptying your bladder before the test (so your weight is more acurate)
- that you don’t exercise before the test
- and for best comparison of results, that follow up scans are done under the same conditions… i.e. sam time of day and same level of hydration
Women should be aware that menstrual cycle affects the body’s hydration and will cause fluctuations in body fat testing. You may prefer not to take the scan during your period to avoid misleading results.
We recently had a BodyScan Client arrive for their session with a large cup of coffee in hand… and it was their second of the morning … we realised that our instructions on how best to prepare for a body scan were not as obvious as they could have been… so we have now improved these.
We did the test for her, but also offered a free follow up test within a week so she could be tested under ideal circumstances…