Item

High frequency body mass measurement, feedback, and health behaviors

Kooreman,P.
; 
Scherpenzeel,A.
Abstract
We analyze weight and fat percentage measurements of respondents in an online general population panel in the Netherlands, collected using wireless scales, with an average frequency of 1.6 measurements per week. First, we document the existence of a weekly cycle; body mass is lowest on Fridays and highest on Mondays, showing significant (p < 0.01) differences of, on average, 0.2 kilogram in weight, 0.06 in BMI value, and 0.03 in fat percentage. Second, we find that in the general population fat-based measures of obesity point at a three times larger prevalence of obesity (53%) than BMI-based measures (17%). Third, we find that feedback that includes a recommended weight range increases the temporal variation in individual body mass by almost ten percent (sd for weight increases from 1.13 to 1.22; sd for BMI increases from 0.37 to 0.41; sd for fat percentage increases from 0.55 to 0.61.
Description
Date
2014-07
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Collections
Tilburg University Research Output Collection
Show all metadata
Research Projects
Organizational Units
Journal Issue
Keywords
body mass, fat percentage, obesity, feedback, health behaviors, information technology, SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being
Citation
Kooreman, P & Scherpenzeel, A 2014, 'High frequency body mass measurement, feedback, and health behaviors', Economics & Human Biology, vol. 14, no. July, pp. 141-153. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ehb.2013.12.003
URI
https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14602/61974
License
info:eu-repo/semantics/restrictedAccess
Embedded videos