(Applicable age 18-99)
What Is Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR)?
Your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) is the minimum level of energy your body needs when at rest to function effectively. This includes
the functioning of your respiratory and circulatory organs, neural system, liver, kidneys, and other organs. You continue to burn
calories even when sleeping.
About 70% of the calories your body uses every day are used by your basal metabolism. In addition, energy is used when doing any
kind of activity. The more vigorous the activity, the more calories are burned. This is because skeletal muscle (which accounts for
approximately 40% of your body weight) acts as your metabolic engine and uses a large amount of energy. Your basal metabolism is
greatly affected by the amount of muscle you have, so increasing your muscle mass helps increase your basal metabolism.
By studying healthy individuals, scientists have found that people's metabolic rate change as they age. Basal metabolism rises as a
child grows. After peaking at the age of around 16 or 17, it typically starts to gradually decrease.
Having a higher basal metabolism increases the number of calories used and helps decrease the amount of body fat. A low basal
metabolic rate makes it harder to lose body fat and overall weight.
How Does a TANITA Body Composition Monitor Calculate BMR?
The basic method of calculating Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) is a standard equation that uses weight and age.
TANITA has conducted in-depth clinical research into the relationship of BMR and body composition resulting in a much more
accurate and personalized reading for the user based on impedance measurements. This method has been medically validated using
indirect calorimetry (measuring breathcomposition).*
*Reliability of the equation for Basal Metabolic Rate:At 2002 Nutrition Week: Scientific and Clinical Forum and Exposition
Title: International Comparison: Resting Energy Expenditure Prediction Models:
The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
(Applicable age 18-99)
What Is Metabolic Age?
This function calculates your BMR and indicates the average age associated with the type of metabolism.
If your metabolic age is higher than your actual age, it is an indication that you need to improve your metabolic rate. Increased
exercise builds healthy muscle tissue, which improves your metabolic age.
The reading is shown as a number between 12 and 90. Values under 12 are displayed as “12” and over 90 are displayed as “90”.
(Applicable age 18-99)
What Is Muscle Mass?
This function indicates the weight of muscle in your body. The muscle mass displayed includes skeletal muscle, smooth muscle
(such as cardiac and digestive muscle) and the water contained in these muscles.
Muscles play an important role as they act as an engine that consumes energy. As your muscle mass increases, your energy
consumption increases helping you reduce excess body fat levels and lose weight in a healthy way.
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The muscle mass is judged for persons aged 18 and over.
Muscle mass is judged by calculating the amount of muscle mass against the person’s height, and then the amount is
classified. My TANITA app that links with this device displays the muscle mass judgement as a muscle score, as shown below.
The larger the number, the more muscle the person has.
Low
-4
-3
-2
-1
0
+1
+2
+3
+4
Average
High
