Technologies for Monitoring Your Health
The Duo ponder an electrifying scale and a pressure cuff as the Health and Fitness show kicks off.
Technology is beefing up health-care products that help people monitor chronic problems such as high blood pressure, diabetes, and obesity. The Duo look this week at the array of technologies available to help folks do exactly that.
Steve has been using a Tanita scale for years, and he took a look at the latest $100 model, the BF592. It has a glass platform with four metallic pads for your bare feet; step on them and the scale zaps a small electrical charge through your soles to gauge your body fat and body water percentages. Interesting, Steve says--at least for the first couple of times you try it. After that, it changes so slowly you don't care. And if you have a salty meal, that can skew the numbers.
But what's great about these Tanitas, according to Steve, is that they are extremely accurate. (No cheating, says Angela? Nope.) But Steve likes his older model better than this one. The buttons you press on the BF592 are a little harder to reach with your toes, and the unit's hopeless on carpeted floors.
Angela's less concerned with her weight, but she's interested in units that monitor blood pressure and especially blood sugar. Home blood-pressure monitors are particularly useful, as many suffering from hypertension are further afflicted with a condition called "white-coat hypertension"--their blood pressure goes up when they're in the doctor's office to have it checked.
The Duo looked at three models: the LifeSource One Step Plus Memory, the Omron HEM-705CP Automatic (which is similar to the LifeSource but includes a printer), and LifeSource's Wrist Automatic Blood Pressure Monitor, which goes (as one might suspect) on your wrist.
In theory, the wrist monitors get folks to test more often, since it's easier for people to put them on. But Angela's tests found the wrist units to be somewhat less accurate than bigger models. Steve has used a wrist monitor for years--having taken it to the doctor's office to calibrate it against an accurate one--and he notes that users have to be careful not to take readings too soon one after another.
SAVE/DELETE
Steve: SAVE the Tanita scale and the wrist monitor
Angela: DELETE the wrist monitor; no decision on the scale
