It becoming apparent scientifically that in terms of long term health it’s not always just about weight, but percentage of body fat and it’s location.  Recent movies like Fed Up talk of the fact that people can have normal weight, but have it distributed in all the wrong places due to poor diet.  This has some organizations talking about using 3D scanning to switch from BMI (Body Mass Index) to BVI (Body Volume Index).  We’ve talked before about 3D scanning for clothes sizing as all size 6’s or “mediums” aren’t created equal and this is the same for people who may have identical weight and height, but radically different bodies.The use of 3D body scanning for medical purposes isn’t new.  3D scanning has been used to fit prosthetics, make hearing aids and to showing people what they might look like after plastic surgery (warning: has a couple mildly graphic medical images).  However, the use of it for regular preventative medicine in the form of a quick 1 minute scan that could be part of every physical is new.

For home use there’s a company out there called Naked that has a new full body scanner.  It’s touted as the first 3D fitness tracker and lets you visually see the physical changes in your body.  Maybe some day we could all look at some frightening before and after 3D silhouettes of what we looked like 10 years ago…yikes.  The $749 price may seem a bit high to some, but to fitness freaks who may spend $500 on a GPS watch this is probably in the reasonable ballpark.  I could also see these parked at gyms or with personal trainers.

More information with health is a good thing, with awareness usually comes change,  this is why food tracking apps and step counters can be effective.  To truly see ourselves could be a good thing!