15
Body water percentage
The body water percentage is normally within the following ranges:
Man Woman
Age
Agepoor good very good poor good very good
10
–100 < 50 50 – 65 > 65 10 –100 < 45 45 – 60 > 60
Body fat contains relatively little water. Therefore persons with a high body fat percentage have body wa-
ter percentages below the recommended values. With endurance athletes, however, the recommended
values could be exceeded due to low fat percentages and high muscle percentage.
This scale is unsuitable for measuring body water in order to draw medical conclusions concerning age-
related water retention, for example. If necessary ask your physician. Basically, a high body water percent-
age should be the aim.
Muscle percentage
The muscle percentage is normally within the following ranges:
Man Woman
Age
Agelow normal high low normal high
10 –14 < 44 44 – 57% > 57% 10 –14 < 36 36 – 43% > 43%
15 –19 < 43 43 – 56% > 56% 15 –19 < 35 35 – 41% > 41%
20 – 29 < 42 42 – 54% > 54% 20 – 29 < 34 34 – 39% > 39%
30 – 39 < 41 41– 52% > 52% 30 – 39 < 33 33 – 38% > 38%
40 – 49 < 40 40 – 50% > 50% 40 – 49 < 31 31– 36% > 36%
50 – 59 < 39 39 – 48% > 48% 50 – 59 < 29 29 – 34% > 34%
60 – 69 < 38 38 – 47% > 47% 60 – 69 < 28 28 – 33% > 33%
70 –100 < 37 37– 46% > 46% 70 –100 < 27 27– 32% > 32%
Bone mass
Like the rest of our body, our bones are subject to the natural development, degeneration and ageing
processes. Bone mass increases rapidly in childhood and reaches its maximum between 30 and 40 years
of age. Bone mass reduces slightly with increasing age. You can reduce this degeneration somewhat with
healthy nutrition (particularly calcium and vitamin D) and regular exercise. With appropriate muscle build-
ing, you can also strengthen your bone structure.
Note that this scale will not show you the calcium content of your bones, but will measure the weight of all
bone constituents (organic substances, inorganic substances and water).
Attention: Please do not confuse bone mass with bone density. Bone density can be determined only
by means of a medical examination (e.g. computer tomography, ultrasound). It is therefore not possible
to draw conclusions concerning changes to the bones and bone hardness (e.g. osteoporosis) using this
scale.
Little infl uence can be exerted on bone mass, but it will vary slightly within the infl uencing factors (weight,
height, age, gender).
Results in relation to time
Remember that only long-term trends are important. Short-term fl uctuations in weight over a
few days are usually the result of a loss of fl uid.
The interpretation of the results refl ects changes in total body weight, percentage of body fat and body
water as well as muscle density, and takes into account the length of time over which these changes take
place. Sudden changes within days must be distinguished from medium term changes (over weeks) and
long term changes (months).
