Hitachi Ltd developed simulation technology that estimates from body weight and abdominal girth how much visceral fat is accumulated and displays a cross-sectional image of the abdomen.
This technology is aimed at assisting health instructions to ease metabolic syndrome.
When the values of body weight and abdominal girth are entered, a cross-sectional image of the abdomen expressing the current degree of stored fat is simulated and displayed. Also, the technology can estimate the degree of visceral fat increased or decreased by body weight changes in the future and visualize it.
Hitachi analyzed the relation among body weights, abdominal girths and visceral fat dimensions using medical data of 75,000 examinees and developed an algorithm to estimate visceral fat dimensions.
In addition, the company discovered that girth sometimes decreases in different ways between people with a large girth and people with a small girth, even when their body weights decrease by the same amount. Reflecting this discovery, the company made it possible to predict the girth and the degree of fat stored after future weight changes, it said.
As for the technology that simulates and visualizes how much fat is stored using a cross-sectional image, Hitachi realized it by analyzing the structure around a girth and inventing a model that shows visceral fat and musculoskeletal structure.
It is said to be effective to give an instruction to examinees while showing them their current fat store shot with an X-ray CT scanner when providing a specified health instruction, Hitachi said. The company developed the technology because it was difficult to predict the degree of fat store, for example, after a diet.
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