GE Healthcare
Case Study
Evaluating body composition
at Centre Médical Val Santé
Mrs. Sophia Zalteni, Nutritionist, Centre Médical Val Santé
The Centre Médical Val Santé is located in Anzin, a small city in the
North of France. As a focused women’s center, the Centre offers
services primarily in gynecology, psychology & nutrition. The
nutritionist at the center, Mrs. Sophia Zalteni, has been practicing
there for ten years.
Although for several nutritionists and dieticians the use of highend technology for measuring the body composition is not
common, Mrs. Zalteni has worked over the years with the GE
Lunar iDXA* (Dual energy Xray Absorptiometry) in combination
with BIS (Bioelectrical impedance Spectroscopy) to evaluate the
body composition of her patients.
“Standing on a weight scale gives us our weight as a single
value, but is not specifying what that value is standing for. When
we want to control weight it isn’t about losing weight but losing
fat mass. The easiest and overall well-known way of evaluation
fat mass is the Body Mass Index, but as is it not more than a
simple calculation of weight and height (weight/height2) it isn’t
reflecting either the correct body composition or a specific value
of fat mass. The basic for weight control is to quantify the total
body fat mass, to know where the fat is located and to have this
measured in the right way, with the right tools. Which will give the
good picture of the patient’s body composition. I cannot overstate
how crucial it is to have a precise body composition measurement
before starting any kind of therapy, treatment or diet.”
“People are more aware and conscious about health and the
attention to nutrition became more and more important over
the last years. Although lots of people think for losing weight
they should not eat, it is the contrary. When the intake of
calories is too low, it will have the opposite effect, the body isn’t
burning anything but starts to store. It is crucial to provide the
body enough metabolic energy.
The only way to maintain a diet is to keep it possible for the
individual. The combination of nutrition with a healthy lifestyle
is the key to success. Restriction isn’t the best solution; the
diet needs to be possible in a social and family environment.”
— Mrs. Sophia Zalteni, Nutritionist, Centre Médical Val Santé
“Being an employee here in the Medical center I saw lots of
people being treated by Mrs. Zalteni. I had tried a lot of different
diets before with little success and was a bit skeptical of
following any others. However, seeing the results of treatment
for some of the patients and their satisfaction with the service, I
fixed a visit myself, that was 4 years ago.
During the first visit Mrs. Zalteni captured in detail my eating
habits, less attention went to the value for the weight scale as
Mrs. Zalteni focused on special examinations. Before the BIS
(which measures my body water), I had a DXA Total Body scan,
which showed an image of my whole body. On the image I
could see a mapping of my % fat in 3 colors. The red color
localized the high %fat, the yellow showed medium %fat and
the green showed low % fat. Additionally I had a full chart of
results that showed my fat mass (in grams) and lean mass (in
grams) for the whole body as well around my hips and
abdomen the regions where I wanted to see some changes.
My aim was to loose 10kg, I received a nutrition list with the
structure of a meal with it quantities, without specific
restrictions, and after my first visit with Mrs. Zalténi I believed it
would be possible to follow the nutrition plan and to loose those
10kg… I understood that it would be a matter of combining
nutrition with a healthy lifestyle.
In the first month I lost 1 kg/weekly, which made continuing
very encouraging. It was a change of eating, which I applied
and it positively impacted eating habits of my whole family.
That made it in general much easier for me to continue.
Additionally I felt better about my body and liked to put my
gym/workout clothes on again. Working-out was no longer an
obligation but a real pleasure.
During one of my regular consultations with Mrs. Zalteni the
weight scale gave an increase of 2 kg. As I had followed my diet
and even added sports to my daily physical activities, I couldn’t
believe a gain in weight. Luckily with the iDXA scan I
understood there had been a 3kg gain of muscle and a 1kg loss
of fat. Since then I don’t trust the weight scale value any longer,
it doesn’t say anything about my body status at all. Although
the last kilos did not disappear as easy as the first ones I finally
lost my 10 kg and have my body back in shape, which I have
maintained up to today. Getting slimmer isn’t about not eating;
it is about eating the right things, the right portions and living a
healthy life style. starting any kind of therapy, treatment or diet.”
— Metabolic health patient, Centre Médical Val Santé
Statistics:
The patient database shows a yearly increase of approximately
1500 new patients/ year.
Mrs. Zalteni hasn’t used any marketing or advertising methods to
have this growth, it all happened by vocal communication of her
satisfied patients. One of the big contributors to her success is
that she works alone and completes the exams herself which
enables her to have a great relationship with her patients.
“I can’t do my work as a nutritionist without my body
composition measurement tools. I invested in the GE Lunar iDXA,
as I strongly believe that working as a nutritionist or dietician we
need the right tools to understand the real status of the patients’
body composition before setting up any diet.”
The amount of iDXA total body scans provided to Mrs. Zalteni’s
patients have increased over the last 4 years from 1700/year to
2700/year. Although Mrs. Zalteni is working in a women’s center
and most of her patients are women, thanks to the word-ofmouth advertisement of her patients as well a large number of
men have started to visit Mrs. Zalteni and have their total body
composition scan.
New patient / year
1800
1600
1400
1200
1000
800
600
400
200
0
2007
“In my opinion, DXA is for a nutritionist what echography
(Ultrasound Imaging) is for a gynecologist: essential.”
“Another value that the iDXA adds is the color fat mapping image
for my patients: it is their motivation trigger. The change of color
as areas of the body change from high % fat to medium to low
fat even if the weight on the weight scale went up, visually it
shows the real impact of the efforts in diet and exercise. A lot of
the time now patients themselves ask for a scan”
2008
2009
2010
■ Second half ■ First half
Total body scans / year
3000
2500
2000
1500
1000
500
0
2007
2008
2009
2010
■ Second half ■ First half
Patient scans / year
2500
2000
1500
1000
“From the early days I used the DXA Body composition
measurement as starting point for all the treatments. Recently
we exchanged our GE Lunar Prodigy* for the latest DXA
technology from GE: the Lunar iDXA. It is an easy & direct
measurement of Fat Mass, Lean & Bone of the total body as well
localized regions of interest as abdomen, hips, trunk, arms, legs.
This regional measurement of fat and other advanced tools of
the iDXA are working very well at motivating the patients to
continue with the treatment. Additionally the iDXA measures
patients up to 204kg so it is useful for a wide range of patients.
In the last two years I’ve also added a BIS exam, which I do right
after the DXA exam and I can do both in less than 5 minutes,
with a trustworthy and reproducible result. Having no body
composition measurement or using another technique could
lead to choose a sub-optimal therapy or program for diet or
weight loss as such details offered by DXA and BIS body
composition methods are not known.”
— Mrs. Sophia Zalteni, Nutritionist, Centre Médical Val Santé
500
0
2007
2008
2009
2010
■ Second half ■ First half
Split gender / year
6000
5000
4000
3000
2000
1000
0
Women
Men
■ Women ■ Men
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