Hybrid Machine Learning Model for Body Fat Percentage Prediction Based on Support Vector Regression and Emotional Artificial Neural Networks

Abstract

Obesity or excessive body fat causes multiple health problems and diseases. However, obesity treatment and control need an accurate determination of body fat percentage (BFP). The existing methods for BFP estimation require several procedures, which reduces their cost-effectivity and generalization. Therefore, developing cost-effective models for BFP estimation is vital for obesity treatment. Machine learning models, particularly hybrid models, have a strong ability to analyze challenging data and perform predictions by combining different characteristics of the models. This study proposed a hybrid machine learning model based on support vector regression and emotional artificial neural networks (SVR-EANNs) for accurate recent BFP prediction using a primary BFP dataset. SVR was applied as a consistent attribute selection model on seven properties and measurements, using the left-out sensitivity analysis, and the regression ability of the EANN was considered in the prediction phase. The proposed model was compared to seven benchmark machine learning models. The obtained results show that the proposed hybrid model (SVR-EANN) outperformed other machine learning models by achieving superior results in the three considered evaluation metrics. Furthermore, the proposed model suggested that abdominal circumference is a significant factor in BFP prediction, while age has a minor effect.