alt.hn

8/20/2026 at 11:03:29 AM

Seeing beyond BMI: Estimating cardiometabolic risk with smartphone imagery

 https://research.google/blog/seeing-beyond-bmi-estimating-cardiometabolic-risk-with-smartphone-imagery/

by leanderjanssen

8/20/2026 at 2:56:34 PM

Beating Smartwatch based Body Composition Analysis (using Bio impedance snalysis) approach isn't a great feat as its single point crude sensor is widely inaccurate compared to production grade multi segment multi frequency inbody machines using same technique

Google PhotoScan (~2.1 pp MAE) may put it between DXA and well performed multi site Bodyfat Caliper by an skilled operator and WAY ABOVE US Navy circumference, consumer BIA ( smart scale with handlebars), poorly performed calipers.

But i remember microsoft research paper:

>In 2022, a Microsoft Research associated team published “Smartphone camera based assessment of adiposity”. Their Visual Body Composition (VBC) system used ordinary smartphone photographs plus a CNN to predict body fat percentage against DXA. In a 134 person, two site validation cohort, it achieved 2.16 ± 1.54 percentage point mean absolute error, with concordance to DXA of CCC = 0.96.

So from 2022 to 2026, we still don't have a model which can provide benefit to people.

This can help so many people using apps which currently simply wrap Gemini Flash to detect "body fat."

Unfortunately, none of these models, code, or training data are available freely.

These companies are seriously withholding public benefit. Currently, a guy who wants to get a DXA scan has to pay $50 in the US and 1,500-4,000 INR in India.

In poor countries this DXA may not be affordable to vast majority, if models are released we can perhaps setup even a "photo booth" with better cameras and widely available sensors

Companies spend billions of dollars on charity but not where it can produce benefit to the average person; so much technical talent, yet not a single public free model. This is actually a life changing opportunity if you can get it done!

by faangguyindia

8/20/2026 at 4:53:22 PM

I keep hearing DXA scans aren't that accurate either. @lizokryptonian on instagram has a few videos on it.

by drop_star

8/20/2026 at 10:43:41 PM

Yes, because DEXA does not directly measure tissues; it measures lean mass vs. fat mass. Lean mass is more than just muscle, so hydration changes affect the lean mass to fat mass ratio relative to total body weight. As a result, body fat % can vary, but you can control for it to some extent. It's useful and less invasive than other methods which offer higher accuracy.

by faangguyindia

8/20/2026 at 6:32:18 PM

Amazon Halo did something similar five years ago:

https://www.amazon.science/latest-news/the-science-behind-th...

A recent clinical study, whose results haven’t been published yet, determined that [Amazon Halo's] Body is nearly twice as accurate as smart scales in measuring BFP when using DXA as the ground truth.

Some discussion on HN at the time: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24295779

by jerlam

8/20/2026 at 7:32:46 PM

I got 2 DEXA scans in the same day, within 1hr of each other, from 2 different machine manufacturers (Hologic Horizon, GE Lunar)

One said I was 5% bodyfat, the other said I was 11% bodyfat:

https://old.reddit.com/r/QuantifiedSelf/comments/1u6ok9b/sam...

Take that for what you will...

by gavinray

8/20/2026 at 1:56:53 PM

I wonder if this could be used by insurance companies to determine premiums?

by kamranjon

8/20/2026 at 2:00:01 PM

Why must you tempt the insurance companies

by tccole

8/20/2026 at 2:07:53 PM

because they ding you for high cholesterol regardless of what every other metric says.

by jgalt212

8/20/2026 at 2:12:13 PM

And you think more data is going to stop them from doing that?

by ryukoposting

8/20/2026 at 5:31:26 PM

I think they will continue to get away with whatever they can get away with. But with more data, it leaves room for new entrants with different risk models to provide alternative plans. In US, term life insurance is so regulated, other than price, one is largely indifferent to the provider.

by jgalt212

8/20/2026 at 3:21:34 PM

Great idea. I'd be happy to get a discount for my leanness, low RHR (resting heart rate) and daily step counts.

by arnejenssen

8/20/2026 at 5:09:05 PM

silly goose, thinking insurance providers would lower premiums instead of just raising them more for the big 'uns

by red-iron-pine

8/20/2026 at 5:47:53 PM

HN headline in 3 months: "I hacked a mouse jiggler to generate fake steps for my pedometer".

by netsharc

8/20/2026 at 6:42:34 PM

I have crafted and uploaded CSV files to my company's wellness portal in order to get gift cards. By coincidence, everyone else on my team also had the exact same number of daily steps.

by jerlam

8/21/2026 at 7:26:13 AM

You don't need to measure anything. Just do some sports. As simple as that.

by ofrzeta

8/20/2026 at 1:12:04 PM

If this gets good enough, you could imagine your phone periodically tracking body composition and combining it with wearables, bloodwork, glucose, etc. Suddenly some measurements that currently require a clinic and specialized equipment become essentially free and continuous.

...at the same time, giving Google/Apple photos of your body is creepy

by sgallant

8/20/2026 at 2:01:06 PM

I think the reasoning is that Google/Apple already have all your photos.

by tccole

8/20/2026 at 3:35:24 PM

Putting this out here in case anyone with metabolic disorders may find it useful. Labcorp has a recently added blood screening, the 'Metabolic Vulnerability Index' aka MVX. This looks outside the 'standard of care' cholesterol/glucose/bp triad which typically results in managed decline to identify underlying causes of said triad.

A metabolic specialist who understands how these work is essential to the recovery process.

by CodeWriter23

8/20/2026 at 10:03:59 PM

Maybe I'm looking too much into this, but MVX sounds like an end-run around Labcorp not providing medical advice.

Here's Labcorp's page:

https://www.labcorp.com/tests/123590/metabolic-vulnerability...

This test was developed and its performance characteristics determined by Labcorp. It has not been cleared or approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

This sounds like a proprietary index. An index is not a absolute measurement, but a specific weighing of multiple measures and run through an algorithm. I can't find that Quest Diagnostics offers this test, although that may be temporary.

Labcorp can now say, "According to our test you are unhealthy." without a doctor involved. If somehow it gets accepted, only Labcorp can administer it, unlike a normal blood test that measures actual values.

by jerlam

8/20/2026 at 1:29:29 PM

I expect Apple Health to integrate this kind of cool functionality in the future. Heck, I'm not sure why I can't have it pull my labs by connecting other applications.

by arenaninja

8/20/2026 at 1:39:38 PM

> Heck, I'm not sure why I can't have it pull my labs by connecting other applications.

You can do this by connecting to your provider already. Open Health, select the search (magnifying glass) icon, then scroll down and select "add account". If your provider is in there you can link them and see your labs in the app. With mine, the authorization to access is up to one year so it has to be renewed periodically.

by Jtsummers

8/20/2026 at 1:40:17 PM

Isn’t that what the whole HealthKit ecosystem is?

I thought this wasn’t fully implemented because incompetence and lack of tech foresight in healthcare systems, or because said data providers have realized the value of this info and won’t share it at the level of 2007 Facebook users.

by xattt

8/20/2026 at 1:49:02 PM

> Heck, I'm not sure why I can't have it pull my labs by connecting other applications.

You shouldn't be able to. while the ability when used correctly would be very nice, there are too many scams/frauds and other abuses where that ability will be used against somebody. (maybe not you - if all you have is the same cholesterol as everybody else there isn't much gain from you - but some data is a lot more sensitive)

by bluGill

8/20/2026 at 1:26:29 PM

I’m kinda surprised Apple doesn’t do something like this. I would imagine it’s a lot easier with phones with LiDAR

by syntaxing

8/20/2026 at 2:31:59 PM

Been meaning to try this myself

by hnfwd5lqmp

8/20/2026 at 2:29:59 PM

Google already has a product called PhotoScan.

Come on guys!

by gdevenyi

8/20/2026 at 2:44:01 PM

waist-to-hip ratio already took us beyond BMI, a long time ago.

by fsckboy

8/21/2026 at 5:07:59 AM

Ah, the old dream of taking a picture and telling _everything_ about the people in that picture. Is this CIA founded ? /s

by hulitu