The Power to see what's inside.

No — you don’t need a referral from your GP or another doctor. Dr Emil Gadimali, our Medical Director, acts as the internal referrer for all scans at DEXA LONDON. Once you book, your details are reviewed against clinical eligibility criteria before your appointment is confirmed, so everything is handled in-house.

If anything on your form suggests a DEXA scan may not be suitable, we’ll contact you to discuss this and, if needed, advise you to speak to your GP or specialist first.

A body composition DEXA scan gives you a detailed breakdown of what your body is actually made of — far beyond what a set of scales or BMI can tell you. In a single 10-minute scan, you’ll receive:

• Total and regional body fat — your overall body fat percentage, plus how it’s distributed across your arms, legs, and trunk, so you can see asymmetries or areas of concern.
• Lean muscle mass — measured in each limb and your trunk, allowing calculation of your Appendicular Lean Mass Index (ALMI), a clinically validated marker used to screen for sarcopenia (age-related muscle loss).
• Visceral adipose tissue (VAT) — the metabolically active fat stored around your internal organs, which is strongly linked to type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and metabolic syndrome. This is one of the most important numbers on the report and cannot be assessed by BIA scales or tape measurements.
• Bone mineral content — included alongside the body composition measurements, giving an indication of skeletal mass.
• Limb symmetry — useful for athletes, people recovering from injury, or anyone training unilaterally, with a Limb Symmetry Index comparing left and right sides.
• Resting metabolic rate estimate — derived from your lean mass, helping guide calorie targets for fat loss, maintenance, or muscle gain.
• Tracking over time — repeat scans let you see whether weight changes reflect fat loss, muscle gain, or unwanted muscle loss — something scales simply cannot distinguish.

Unlike bioimpedance (BIA) scales, which estimate composition using electrical currents and hydration-sensitive algorithms, DEXA uses two low-dose X-ray beams to directly measure tissue composition. It is the clinical gold standard used in research, sports science, and metabolic medicine.

It assesses bone mineral density (BMD) to identify osteopenia, osteoporosis, and fracture risk.

All scans are carried out by trained radiographers at 3Beam Diagnostic Imaging Centre, at 86 Harley Street, London, W1G 7HP.