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Indirect Calorimeter to Assess Metabolic Changes in Program Contestants
January 29th, 2010 by admin
Microlife Medical Home Solutions, Inc. announced that the medical staff for NBC’s television show, “The Biggest Loser” will implement the MedGem indirect calorimeter to assess metabolic changes in program contestants.The MedGem handheld indirect calorimeter is an FDA-cleared, Class II, medical device that assesses metabolic rate by measuring a patient’s resting oxygen consumption.”Resting metabolic rate (RMR) makes up approximately 70 percent of an individual’s daily energy needs. Understanding a patient’s calorie needs is extremely important when establishing a weight loss plan,” said Dr. Scott O. McDoniel, Director of Clinical Affairs for Microlife Medical Home Solutions, Inc.
The WatchWT MedGem device is the world’s only hand-held indirect calorimeter that can accurately and reliably assess RMR in adults and children. Indirect calorimetry is the preferred method for assessing metabolic needs in adult and pediatric patients needing weight reduction as indicated by the American Dietetic Association’s Evidence-Based Nutrition Practice Guidelines for Adult and Pediatric Weight Management.”We chose to use the MedGem device based on its accuracy in comparison to other indirect calorimeters and doubly-labeled water,” said Dr. Robert Huizenga, Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine at UCLA and Medical Advisor to The Biggest Loser. The doubly- labeled water method is particularly useful for measuring average metabolic rate over relatively long periods of time (i.e., a few days or weeks) in patients for whom other types of direct or indirect calorimetric measurements of metabolic rate would be difficult to impossible. The MedGem device is portable and can assess RMR in as little as 5 minutes.According to Microlife, resting metabolic rate varies between individuals. Until recently, most healthcare providers would estimate RMR using complicated estimation equations. However, several studies indicate estimations are substantially inaccurate and can lead to developing a wrong nutrition plan for overweight patients.
A 2008 study, published in Obesity Facts: The European Journal on Obesity, demonstrated overweight patients lost more weight with a personalized nutrition program from a MedGem measurement vs. an estimated nutrition plan.Microlife Medical Home Solutions, a subsidiary of Microlife, is a provider of proprietary hand-held medical devices and systematic solutions offer healthcare providers evidence-based and practice- tested methods for accurate assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases.
The BodyGem and MedGem indirect calorimeters come with Analyzer software which captures the measurement and computes a Daily Calorie Budget for the client.