Mercy Regional Medical Center has expanded its health and wellness services available to men and women with the addition of the Advanced Body Composition assessment.
In the U.S., two-thirds of American adults are overweight or obese, and more than one-third of school-age children are either overweight or obese. When associated with high waist circumference and high body mass index, obesity is an independent risk factor for many cardiovascular diseases and conditions, including Type 2 diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, stroke and some cancers.
The ABC assessment, which is done on the Horizon DXA system from Hologic, provides detailed information about body fat, lean mass, bone mass and visceral fat, and it provides a Fat Mass Index, which measures the ratio of fat mass to height squared. FMI may be better than BMI because it measures excess fat. BMI may misclassify muscular subjects as overweight or individuals with low body weight as normal even if they have high levels of fat.
ABC assessments are available without a physician order. Payment is needed at the time of service. The assessments are not covered by most insurances.
For more information, call 764-2525.
