Withings Body Scan scale adds a sensor bar and goes way beyond weight measurement

Our health is not confined to our weight, any more than it's just about our muscles or mobility. Health is, at least in part, a physical condition and that means your whole body - all of you. A typical scale can't measure that, but Withing's wild, new Body Scan device, unveiled at CES 2022, can.

Withings Body Scan is a scale, but it's also a series of sensors embedded in the platform and a special, tethered bar that sits along the top edge of the scale. Weight measurement ends up being the least of what Body Scan can do. It's so advanced, in fact, that the device is not yet approved for use in the U.S. It's awaiting FDA approval.

Why all the caution? Perhaps it's because of how Body Scan works. To measure things like "segmental body composition," and even sweat gland activity, Body Scan sends a low level and what Withings promises is a "safe" electrical signal from the sensors in either the bar in your hands or the pad under your feet to almost instantly read things like impedance. That measurement can tell you a lot about what's going on in the body.

Withings claims it can learn things like fat mass distribution, water percentage, and muscle imbalances, which is why similar health measurement systems are so popular with sports professionals.

The sweat gland measurement in the feet allows Body Scan to track small nerve activity, which gives you a Sudomotor reading (autonomic nervous system control of sweat gland activity).

All the sensors also offer some of the more traditional biometric data, including heart rate, 6-lead ECG recordings to detect arrhythmia, and vascular age (arterial health) measurement. Withings claims Body Scan's algorithms can detect heart rhythm patterns associated with atrial fibrillation.

Body Scan includes a 3.2-inch color display where you can see most of these results, but the device also connects to the Withings App on iOS or Android where you can see it all in detail.

As noted above, Withings Body Scan is still awaiting FDA clearance, but they expect to start shipping it in the second half of 2022. Pricing has not been set.

Devices that can measure all sorts of health metrics are not unusual. We're certainly seeing many new wearables that can read everything from your stress levels to heart rate. However, a scale that also puts something in your hands to measure not just what it can glean from your wrists is something new. The level of detail - readings for individual body parts including your arms, legs, and torso - Body Scan can potentially track is also unprecedented.

It'll be interesting to see how Withings Body Scan makes it through the FDA approval process and how, ultimately, it measures up against all the new healthcare ware coming out of CES 2022.

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