Research

Mixed

The Tanita foot-to-foot bioelectrical impedance analyser provides body fat estimates with accuracy comparable to conventional tetrapolar impedance systems (Bodystat) when validated against a four-compartment model, despite having slightly wider limits of agreement.

You can use a simple foot-to-foot body fat scale (like the Tanita) at home with confidence. It is just as accurate as more expensive, complex hand-to-foot impedance machines when compared to high-end lab tests. Do not assume that holding handles or using more electrodes makes the reading better; the simpler device performs equivalently.

GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
This demonstrates that the practical simplicity of the novel Tanita method is not associated with a clinically significant decrement in performance relative to a traditional impedance device.
Susan A. Jebb et al. · British Journal Of Nutrition · 2000

Why this rating

High-quality validation study using a 4-compartment gold standard, large heterogeneous sample (n=205), but funded by the manufacturer (Tanita Ltd).

Source

Evaluation of the novel Tanita body-fat analyser to measure body composition by comparison with a four-compartment model

Susan A. Jebb et al. · British Journal Of Nutrition · 2000

DOI 10.1017/s0007114500000155

cross_sectional · n=205Cited 380×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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