Eatsense are the resident sports nutritionists at Riverside Bodyscan – the Central Coast’s leading body composition scanning facility. Clients visiting our West Gosford clinic will be able to access this service. We are the only dietitians on the Central Coast to offer the gold standard in measuring body composition, Dual Energy X-ray Absorptiometry (DEXA).

Standard measures such as Body Mass Index (BMI), weight and healthy weight charts are no longer considered to be the best tools to measure your health status as they are purely just a reflection of your weight and height. The human body is complex and is made up of various components including fat, muscle, organ tissue, fluid and bone, all of which contribute to your ‘weight’. More and more research is now showing us that regional fat distribution (i.e. where we store our fat) is a much better indicator of a person’s health status and health disease risk.
This is why it’s important to stop measuring someone’s health and success when it comes to diet or lifestyle changes based on the numbers on a scale, and instead start learning about your body composition.

A DEXA scanner uses a low dose of x-ray technology to measure changes in the body’s soft tissue composition (fat mass and muscle mass) and bone loss. Unlike the scales which can be deceiving.

A DEXA scan delivers a three component scan that measures your fat, lean muscle and bone density with 99% accuracy.

YOU MAY BE INTERESTED IN A DEXA SCAN IF YOU;

  • Have a family history of osteoporosis
  • Are frustrated with measuring yourself with ordinary scales
  • Want an accurate baseline of your muscle and fat mass before commencing a healthy eating, fitness or weight loss program
  • Are curious about whether you have gained muscle or lost fat
  • Want to assess your health disease risk
  • Have a Body Mass Index (BMI) in the ‘overweight’ category , but think it may be overestimated by extra muscle mass
  • Want to know how much ‘hidden’ fat you have around your organs
  • Aren’t getting the best result out of your current diet or exercise regime

 

A DEXA scan and subsequent consultation with our Accredited Practising Dietitian and Sports Nutritionist will provide you with a comprehensive report outlining your:

  • Total body fat percentage
  • Total muscle mass percentage
  • The weight of your bones
  • Bone mineral density score (i.e. how strong your bones are and what your osteoporosis risk is)
  • Visceral Adipose Tissue (VAT)- a precise measure of any dangerous fat deposits around your organs
  • Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR)- how many calories your body burns at rest
  • Specific energy and macronutrient requirements based on your goals
    e.g. muscle gain or fat loss
  • Health disease risk (e.g. Type II diabetes)

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ATHLETES & BODY COMPOSITION ANALYSIS

Athletes are always striving for the perfect body fat to muscle ratio in order to optimise exercise performance. Weight, strength, speed, agility and endurance are highly dependant on body composition. Achieving an ideal lean body mass combined with a personalised training program and diet are all intrinsically linked with optimal athletic performance. Therefore, a DEXA scan is an important tool that allows you to objectively measure the effectiveness of your training and nutrition
program.

For athletes, knowing their total body composition is much more valuable than simply weight. It is for this reason that many athletes and sporting teams use DEXA to:

Monitor the effectiveness of new training and nutrition programs

Assess nutrient requirements pre, post and during competition and develop personalised meal plans (e.g. athletes with higher muscle mass typically need more calories and protein compared to athletes with higher body fat)

Monitor changes in body composition and dietary intake during the off season (e.g. during the off season when athletes are typically on a tapered maintenance program, many are still fuelling for competition despite working out significantly less

Establish a baseline, from which athletes can compare their lean and fat mass distribution to elite athletes in their respective sport or at your position