Patent ID: 6985767

Claim:
A body fat measuring apparatus comprising: a light emitting portion for projecting light rays to a subject's tissue; a light receiving portion for detecting, of the light rays, at least one of a transmitted light ray having passed through the subject's tissue and a reflected light ray reflected inside the subject's body; and signal processing operation means for calculating at least one of the subject's subcutaneous fat thickness and body fat percentage by performing an operation by use of a detection result of the light receiving portion, wherein either the number of light emitting portions or the number of light receiving portions is at least two and wherein the at least two light emitting portions or light receiving portions are situated at different distances from corresponding light receiving portions or light emitting portions; wherein the light receiving portion includes a first light receiving portion situated at a predetermined distance from the light emitting portion, and a second light receiving portion situated farther away from the light emitting portion than the first light receiving portion, wherein the first light receiving portion detects the transmitted light ray and the reflected light ray having arrived by way of the subject's skin or skin and a layer in the vicinity thereof, wherein the second light receiving portion detects the transmitted light ray and the reflected light ray having arrived by way of the subject's skin and subcutaneous layer, wherein the signal processing operation means corrects a detection result of the second light receiving portion by a detection result of the first light receiving portion and performs an operation by use of a result of the correction to thereby calculate the subject's subcutaneous fat thickness or body fat percentage, wherein the signal processing operation means analyzes all or some light components of wavelengths of substantially 600 to 660 nm, and wherein the distance between the first light receiving portion and the second light receiving portion is at least 2 mm.