Using just BMI to measure your health is silly. Here’s why
2 years, 10 months ago

Using just BMI to measure your health is silly. Here’s why

Live Mint  

We’re a society obsessed with numbers, and no more so than when managing our health. Here’s everything you need to know about BMI – and why using it as the sole measure of your health is nonsense, starting with a quick history lesson. BMI misses a more important measure – body fat percentage BMI is based on body weight, but a person’s disease risk is linked to body fat, not weight. BMI does not measure body fat distribution Numerous studies have found people with the same BMI can have very different disease risk profiles, primarily driven by where fat is distributed in their bodies. As a single measure, BMI is not a good measure of health – it lacks accuracy and clarity and, in its current form, misses measuring the many important factors that influence your risk of disease.

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History of this topic

Why BMI isn't the most accurate measure of obesity
1 month, 2 weeks ago

Why BMI isn't the most accurate measure of obesity

India Today  

Obesity is excessive fat stored in the body. It doesn’t account for body fat distribution and can be inaccurate for people of different ethnicities and body types, potentially misclassifying their health risk based on a single number,” explains Dr Atul Sardana, bariatric and general surgeon, Apollo Spectra, New Delhi. “Other methods used to measure and quantify obesity are Waist-Hip or …

Why we need to move beyond BMI
1 month, 3 weeks ago

Why we need to move beyond BMI

ABC  

Sam Hawley: BMI or body mass index. Sam Hawley: Louise, BMI or Body Mass Index, it's been around for a really long time, hasn't it? Louise Bower: Well, there's potentially some populations that people who may look as if they've got a healthy BMI, but who may have central fat distribution. There's high body fat where there are already existing …

Obesity’s new spin: is it time to say ‘bye BMI’?
1 month, 3 weeks ago

Obesity’s new spin: is it time to say ‘bye BMI’?

Live Mint  

Obesity has a brand new definition now. A multi-nation commission of doctors and experts, which included Dr Anoop Misra, executive chairman and director of diabetes and endocrinology at Fortis C-DOC Hospital in Delhi, in the report, titled Definition and Diagnostic Criteria of Clinical Obesity, noted that clinical obesity should be treated as an “illness that, akin to the notion of …

A new definition of obesity goes beyond BMI. What this could mean for you
2 months, 1 week ago

A new definition of obesity goes beyond BMI. What this could mean for you

CNN  

CNN — For years, medical experts have defined obesity primarily based on body mass index, which measures stored fat by calculating height and weight, to determine a person’s health risks. Recently, an international commission proposed a revised definition of obesity that focuses on how excess body fat affects the body, and factors in waist circumference, rather than simply calculating BMI. …

Stop Relying On BMI As Only Measure of Obesity, Says Lancet Report: ‘Fit People Likely Ruled Overweight’
2 months, 2 weeks ago

Stop Relying On BMI As Only Measure of Obesity, Says Lancet Report: ‘Fit People Likely Ruled Overweight’

ABP News  

Medical experts have urged a shift away from the Body Mass Index as the main yardstick to determine obesity as it does not factor in body fat levels. BMI has been used as the standard method of diagnosing obesity for decades the world over, but the Lancet commission urges doctors to “move away from BMI alone”. The current method relies …

BMI not accurate for obesity diagnosis: Here are the new guidelines
Trending News
2 months, 2 weeks ago

BMI not accurate for obesity diagnosis: Here are the new guidelines

India Today  

Indian doctors have updated the obesity guidelines and redefined what the medical term means. Experts from the National Diabetes Obesity and Cholesterol Foundation, Fortis C-DOC Hospital, and the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, issued new guidelines that provide several metrics to help diagnose obesity by using Waist Circumference, Waist-to-Height Ratio, abdominal adiposity, and BMI more than 23 kg/m2. Stage …

How do you measure obesity? Not by BMI alone
Trending News
2 months, 2 weeks ago

How do you measure obesity? Not by BMI alone

Firstpost  

Relying solely on BMI to diagnose obesity may be outdated, say global experts. A new report calls for a more comprehensive approach, introducing ‘clinical’ and ‘pre-clinical’ obesity categories based on fat distribution and health impacts. The report highlights the need for more precise diagnostic tools, such as waist circumference, waist-to-hip ratios, or advanced scans like DEXA, which assess fat distribution …

Global experts redefine obesity: New criteria to shift focus from BMI to comprehensive health measures
2 months, 2 weeks ago

Global experts redefine obesity: New criteria to shift focus from BMI to comprehensive health measures

Hindustan Times  

A group of global experts is proposing a new way to define and diagnose obesity, reducing the emphasis on the controversial body mass index and hoping to better identify people who need treatment for the disease caused by excess body fat. Targeting people who actually need the help most “The whole goal of this is to get a more precise …

New Obesity Benchmark Adds Body Fat, Organ Health to BMI
Trending News
2 months, 2 weeks ago

New Obesity Benchmark Adds Body Fat, Organ Health to BMI

Live Mint  

-- Medical experts proposed a radical overhaul of how obesity is diagnosed, moving away from relying on body mass alone and adding broader measurements like heart health. “The commission is re-framing obesity and acknowledges the nuanced reality of obesity,” said Robert Eckel, emeritus professor of medicine at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus and one of the group’s members. …

BMI not an accurate measure to check obesity, new study confirms
2 months, 2 weeks ago

BMI not an accurate measure to check obesity, new study confirms

India TV News  

A Lancet Global Commission report recommended a new and nuanced approach to detect obesity. The report was published in The Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology journal and endorsed by over 75 medical organisations including the All Indian Association for Advancing Research in Obesity The authors of the report said that the current medical approach relies on BMI which is not an …

Move aside, BMI: There's a better way to define obesity, commission finds
2 months, 2 weeks ago

Move aside, BMI: There's a better way to define obesity, commission finds

NPR  

Move aside, BMI: There's a better way to define obesity, commission finds Liudmila Chernetska/iStockphoto/Getty Images An international committee of scientists has proposed a change to the way obesity is defined and diagnosed. "What's new is that we try to define obesity by excess body fat, which is what obesity actually is," Kushner says. Sponsor Message "We're not throwing out BMI, …

New obesity definitions considered as world’s leading health professionals move away from Body Mass Index
2 months, 2 weeks ago

New obesity definitions considered as world’s leading health professionals move away from Body Mass Index

ABC  

Global health leaders have proposed a “dramatic overhaul” of the way doctors look at obesity, publishing new guidelines that split the definition into two distinct categories — clinical obesity and pre-clinical obesity. The authors determined that "clinical obesity" existed when organ function was reduced by weight gain and "pre-clinical obesity" when patients were healthy but carrying excess weight. Former World …

Forget BMI - your 'body roundness index' says more about your health, use our calculator to measure yours
3 months, 3 weeks ago

Forget BMI - your 'body roundness index' says more about your health, use our calculator to measure yours

Daily Mail  

For years, body-mass-index, has been the health metric millions of us have been fixated on when it comes to determining the state of our health. But now experts say we should be focusing on 'body roundness index', which gives us a better indicator of the fat that should worry us most — the flab around our vital organs. Instead, some …

What is the body roundness index and is it a better alternative to the BMI?
5 months, 2 weeks ago

What is the body roundness index and is it a better alternative to the BMI?

ABC  

If you had a health check-up recently, you might have been told that you're underweight, overweight or obese based on your body mass index or BMI. University of Sydney health and obesity expert Nick Fuller says industry experts "worry about accuracy", as well as our healthcare system's "fixation on using it as a single indicator of health". So while the …

The 'Body Roundness Index' Is Touted As The New BMI — And It's Got A Big Problem
6 months, 1 week ago

The 'Body Roundness Index' Is Touted As The New BMI — And It's Got A Big Problem

Huff Post  

Tim Robberts via Getty Images ICYMI, determining someone’s health by checking their body mass index is … well, not it. “Both use body shape and weight to make big guesses about someone’s health status and disease risk, without looking at any other markers of health, metabolic syndrome or other diseases.” She believes health care providers still use BMI for two …

BMI alone not sufficient, waist-to-height ratio more effective in diagnosing obesity: Researchers
8 months, 3 weeks ago

BMI alone not sufficient, waist-to-height ratio more effective in diagnosing obesity: Researchers

India TV News  

Researchers have introduced a new framework for diagnosing and managing obesity, stating that it should no longer be defined solely by body mass index, but rather by the distribution of body fat throughout an individual's body. The authors from the European Association for the Study of Obesity highlighted a significant innovation in the framework: diagnosing obesity now includes a waist-to-height …

Should we ditch BMI and use the ‘body roundness index’ instead?
9 months ago

Should we ditch BMI and use the ‘body roundness index’ instead?

The Hindu  

Body mass index has long been used to get a quick and easy snapshot of a person’s body fat levels. Although there are far better ways of getting an accurate measure of a person’s body fat levels – such as using dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry or magnetic resonance imaging – these are very resource-intensive. But a recent study suggests that instead …

Assam police to conduct third round of fitness test
10 months, 1 week ago

Assam police to conduct third round of fitness test

Hindustan Times  

Silchar: The Assam police announced that it will carry out the third round of fitness tests to detect overweight employees in the department in August. Director general of Assam Police, Gyanendra Pratap Singh, during a BMI test last year 97.53% of candidates passed the first-ever Body Mass Index test conducted by the Assam Police in August last year. Assam director …

Could YOU be 'fat' and not realise it? Experts propose shake-up of BMI rules that would mean the average person over 40 would be reclassified as obese
10 months, 2 weeks ago

Could YOU be 'fat' and not realise it? Experts propose shake-up of BMI rules that would mean the average person over 40 would be reclassified as obese

Daily Mail  

Millions more Britons could be labelled obese in a proposed major shake-up of the body-mass-index classification system. Celebrities such as Avengers star Chris Hemsworth, Australian actress Rebel Wilson, and Britain's own Tom Hardy would also technically tip over into an 'obese' BMI under the proposed change Under the BMI system, a score of 18.5 to 25 is healthy. A score …

The body mass index can't tell us if we're healthy. Here's what we should use instead
1 year, 6 months ago

The body mass index can't tell us if we're healthy. Here's what we should use instead

ABC  

We've known for some time the body mass index is an inaccurate measuring stick for assessing someone's weight and associated health. The medical profession's overreliance on BMI may be harming patients' health as it ignores much of what makes us healthy and focuses only on mass. Since researchers know belly fat around our vital organs carries the most health risk, …

Belly fat not BMI "reliable indicator for health", say experts
1 year, 8 months ago

Belly fat not BMI "reliable indicator for health", say experts

Dutch News  

New guidelines based on a reassessment of health risks will lead to better ways to treat the different causes of obesity, umbrella health partnership PON has said. The guidelines for dealing with the obesity issue, which is on the increase, have not been changed since 2008, PON chair Liesbeth van Rossum told broadcaster NOS. Van Rossum said that, based on …

Re-evaluating what BMI says about your health
1 year, 9 months ago

Re-evaluating what BMI says about your health

The Hindu  

Here’s a public health riddle. The most-repeated myths about fitness are “the lower the BMI, the healthier you are.or that obesity happens only when you’re not eating well or exercising regularly”, says Suruchi Gupta, a Gurugram-based nutritionist. BMI has become the favoured tool to answer a complex public health question: how does weight affect a person’s risk for disease and …

How to tell if you're really overweight - and it's NOT by checking your BMI
2 years ago

How to tell if you're really overweight - and it's NOT by checking your BMI

Daily Mail  

More than half of the world will be overweight or obese by 2035, a damning report warned today. Women with a ratio of 0.85 or more and men with a score of 0.9 or greater are deemed to have high risk levels of visceral fat It categorises people as underweight, healthy weight, overweight or obese. The researchers found those with …

BMI is not an accurate measurement of one's health. Why are we still using it?
2 years, 3 months ago

BMI is not an accurate measurement of one's health. Why are we still using it?

Salon  

I arrived at my doctor's appointment on the Monday morning after an indulgent Thanksgiving weekend and did exactly what you'd expect. So the fact that at this stage in history, the CDC's adult BMI calculator offers a "healthy" weight range without any variables for ethnicity, gender or weight distribution, is absurd. At the International Congress on Obesity in Melbourne this …

Why BMI is a flawed way of determining health
2 years, 11 months ago

Why BMI is a flawed way of determining health

Live Mint  

As a society, fatness scares us. Most people who display a relative discomfort around "fat" tend to mask their discomfort by appearing virtuously concerned about someone's "health." What if I told you that your doctor's office wasn't responsible for the laminated ideal weight charts that are sticky-tacked to their walls; life insurance companies created them? A second way of determining …

The really old, racist and non-medical origins of the BMI
3 years, 2 months ago

The really old, racist and non-medical origins of the BMI

ABC  

It's a simple formula: weight in kilograms divided by height in metres squared and voila, you have your body mass index — a two-digit figure that slots you into a handful of equally clear-cut boxes. For people over-65 a higher BMI is often linked to better health because "it means you're more likely to be well-nourished", Dr Crowe says. This …

A healthy diet is more important than your weight when it comes to risk of death, study finds
4 years, 6 months ago

A healthy diet is more important than your weight when it comes to risk of death, study finds

ABC  

When it comes to predicting health risk, what's more important: what you eat or what you weigh? But people in the "normal" weight category who didn't stick to the Mediterranean diet had a higher risk of death than people in any weight category who did follow the diet. "The single most important finding in my mind is that the Mediterranean …

Why BMI may not be the best way to measure health and how we can improve it
4 years, 7 months ago

Why BMI may not be the best way to measure health and how we can improve it

The Independent  

Sign up to our free Living Well email for advice on living a happier, healthier and longer life Live your life healthier and happier with our free weekly Living Well newsletter Live your life healthier and happier with our free weekly Living Well newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. …

What is obesity and how is it measured?
4 years, 8 months ago

What is obesity and how is it measured?

The Independent  

Sign up to our free Living Well email for advice on living a happier, healthier and longer life Live your life healthier and happier with our free weekly Living Well newsletter Live your life healthier and happier with our free weekly Living Well newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. …

The BMI Is Racist And Useless. Here's How To Measure Health Instead.
4 years, 8 months ago

The BMI Is Racist And Useless. Here's How To Measure Health Instead.

Huff Post  

Burton via Getty Images If a research group today conducted a study on a single gender or ethnic group, critics would be quick to point out that its findings couldn’t reasonably be applied to anyone outside of that gender or group. “The whole thing is preposterous.” LeoPatrizi via Getty Images Making assumptions about a person’s health based on their BMI …

Obesity rates could be worse than thought as patients have not had BMi recorded, study finds
5 years, 11 months ago

Obesity rates could be worse than thought as patients have not had BMi recorded, study finds

The Independent  

Sign up for our free Health Check email to receive exclusive analysis on the week in health Get our free Health Check email Get our free Health Check email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Obesity rates could be higher than thought after research indicated that …

HOW TO CALCULATE YOUR BODY MASS INDEX - AND WHAT IT MEANS
7 years, 2 months ago

HOW TO CALCULATE YOUR BODY MASS INDEX - AND WHAT IT MEANS

Daily Mail  

Body mass index is a measure of body fat based on your weight in relation to your height. President Donald Trump said he's been taking hydroxychloroquine for the past week and a half in case he gets the coronavirus despite. Woke researchers call for term 'morbidly' obese to be banned because it's offensive The new language recommendation was made by …

Why you should stop measuring your BMI to find out if you're healthy
7 years, 7 months ago

Why you should stop measuring your BMI to find out if you're healthy

The Independent  

Sign up to our free Living Well email for advice on living a happier, healthier and longer life Live your life healthier and happier with our free weekly Living Well newsletter Live your life healthier and happier with our free weekly Living Well newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. …

BMI Chart: Why It's A Bad Idea To Trust It
8 years, 7 months ago

BMI Chart: Why It's A Bad Idea To Trust It

Huff Post  

Imagine blindfolding someone who’s never seen you before and then asking them to tell you if you’re too skinny or too fat. The BMI Chart, also known as the Body Mass Index Chart, is about as reliable as the aforementioned blind person when it comes to measuring your state of health. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Body Mass Index …

BMI Doesn't Really Tell You Anything About Your Health
9 years, 1 month ago

BMI Doesn't Really Tell You Anything About Your Health

Huff Post  

Big Cheese Photo via Getty Images Your weight actually isn’t a very reliable predictor of heart health or diabetes risk, according to a new study from obesity researchers. As with most obesity studies, the researchers relied on measuring body mass index, or BMI, a calculated proportion of weight to height that divides people into normal weight, overweight, obese or underweight …

Don't use BMI as reliable measure of health, warns UCLA study
9 years, 1 month ago

Don't use BMI as reliable measure of health, warns UCLA study

The Independent  

Sign up to our free Living Well email for advice on living a happier, healthier and longer life Live your life healthier and happier with our free weekly Living Well newsletter Live your life healthier and happier with our free weekly Living Well newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. …

BMI mislabels 54 million Americans as ‘overweight’ or ‘obese,’ study says
9 years, 1 month ago

BMI mislabels 54 million Americans as ‘overweight’ or ‘obese,’ study says

LA Times  

A new study out of UCLA finds that people with high BMIs categorizing them as overweight or obese might actually be quite healthy according to more reliable markers of health. “The reason I think people rely on BMI is because it’s easy; if you know someone’s weight and you know someone’s height, then out pops this magical number,” Tomiyama said. …

Can Your BMI Predict How Long You'll Live?
9 years, 2 months ago

Can Your BMI Predict How Long You'll Live?

Huff Post  

Rostislav_Sedlacek via Getty Images Body mass index is a common measure of body fat, but new research shows that having a BMI in the "normal weight" range is not always the healthiest for every person. The researchers calculated each person's "personalized optimal BMI," which is the BMI that, based on these variables, would be associated with the lowest relative risk …

For nearly 1 in 5 Americans, BMI may tell the wrong story
11 years, 7 months ago

For nearly 1 in 5 Americans, BMI may tell the wrong story

LA Times  

BMI doesn’t always answer that question accurately, say experts. Since it was invented by Belgian mathematician Adolphe Quetelet in 1832, it has been the basis for research that has pointed overwhelmingly in one direction: When the formula for BMI yields the number 30 or higher, the demarcation line for obesity, the risk of cardiovascular disease, Type 2 diabetes and certain …

BMI might not tell the whole truth
13 years, 11 months ago

BMI might not tell the whole truth

LA Times  

Sometime later this year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will release its latest accounting of the nation’s weight problem, as measured by the body mass index, or BMI. But here’s the thing: For how often doctors, researchers and politicians lean on this quirky, almost-two-centuries-old mathematical formula to browbeat us into shaping up, a number of experts caution that …

Redefining obesity's health risks
15 years, 5 months ago

Redefining obesity's health risks

The Hindu  

The Body Mass Index has long been the yardstick in deciding who is at risk because of their weight. According to a press release by EurekAlert, in a recent article for F1000 Biology Reports, Manfred J Müller and colleagues at the University of Kiel in Germany explain how 'functional' Body Composition Analysis measures more of the variables that determine whether …

Is your weight healthy?
17 years, 2 months ago

Is your weight healthy?

ABC  

Tools Is your weight healthy? Your body mass index will tell you if you are overweight, but your waist measurement is a better guide to your chance of disease. Enter your height cm Enter your weight kg Calculate Your BMI is: When BMI can be misleading: According to the Monash University Centre for Obesity Research and Education, BMI can be …

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