Bello: a 3-second scan to measure your belly fat

Bello: a 3-second smart scan to measure your belly fat

January 28, 2020 Ivan Jovin Crowdfunding, Health tracker 2 min read

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Is your New Year’s resolution to lose belly flat? A gadget called Bello might help. Marketed as the first intelligent belly fat scanner, it automatically measures fat volume around your waist with just a press of a button.

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With 10 days to go, the Indiegogo funded gadget has raised more than 10 times its $20,000 goal. The device has obviously captured the public’s interest, probably because most of us are plagued with the issue of having a bit too much belly fat.

Studies show this is the most harmful fat you can have, and it is linked to many diseases. This includes heart problems, circulatory problems, stroke, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes and more.

The problem is that it’s not very easy to quantify belly fat and it’s even more difficult to control it. You might step on a scale in the morning, but this probably won’t tell you with how much of your weight is due to muscle and how much is due to fat. Smart scales dish out this sort of info, but not to any great precision.

Bello wants to make this job a bit easier. The FDA-registred gizmo measures belly fat with near infrared spectroscopic technology and records it in the accompanying smartphone app. The company says its device measures lipid, water, oxygenated and deoxygenated hemoglobin making it the first portable device that can directly quantify lipid underneath the skin.

All it takes is a three second scan. The medical-grade accuracy will, in turn, help you optimize your daily diet and exercise aided by suggestions from the app.

This certainly sounds like a useful device and a great idea. The bad news is that it sells for around $190 on Indiegogo (50% off final retail price) which is not exactly cheap. Delivery to backers is expected in the Summer.