Recently, there have been many studies conducted on the correlation between genetics and obesity. Without a more nuanced perspective that accounts for all contributing factors, many individuals may be categorized as having high BMI for the wrong reasons, and others as having low BMI, reducing their access to essential health information. The term body composition refers to the breakdown of weight from muscle, bone, and fat, versus looking at the overall weight of the body. Bones are denser than both muscle and fat, which means healthy, strong bones can actually register a person’s body weight as higher, despite having no connection to body fat. Your muscle mass will change significantly based on your level of physical activity and diet, which can lead to an obese categorization, even when a person is otherwise in peak health.

That is because excessive abdominal fat can put individuals at higher risk of chronic health problems like type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure.īMI doesn’t account for waist circumference or several other influencing factors that can significantly alter the number on the scale. One of the most important factors healthcare professionals consider when looking for signs of obesity is waist circumference. That’s because numerous factors determine obesity, and BMI doesn’t account for all of them. While the broader data collected on BMI may be useful in determining regional or national health trends, there are many places where the data can fall short for the individual. That said, it fails to account for many other determining factors and influences that affect individual patients. BMI accounts for height, which is an important factor when determining a healthy weight for an individual. Rather, it was to be used as a method for analyzing population information and drawing conclusions about access to resources and health for a larger data pool. While Quetelet may not have been a doctor, he was a statistician and sociologist, and he insisted that the data collected for different BMI categories was not an accurate representation of an individual person’s health and fitness. Here are just a few of the reasons that BMI can be misleading, and how you can adjust your healthcare plan to better fit your needs. Can BMI be misleading?ĭespite its ubiquity, the BMI index has faced criticism as a tool for measuring body fat and determining wellness. According to the guideline, the categorization can be used to provide more informed diagnoses and better healthcare support and guidance. It works like this: Once your body mass index is measured based on height and weight, you’re categorized into one of four quadrants - underweight, normal weight, overweight, and obese. Since the 1980s, it’s been used by international organizations like the World Health Organization (WHO) as a standard for measuring obesity worldwide. The BMI formula was introduced in the 19th century by a mathematician and sociologist named Lambert Adolphe Jacques Quetelet, and it was initially designed for use in larger population studies and to determine the rate of obesity in prosperous western regions. The healthy BMI range varies more for children and adolescents, as they grow at different rates, but the range is consistent for adult BMI measurements. Simply put, BMI value measures the level of body fat a person has based on their height and weight. While BMI was a useful tool for providing health information in the past, there are several things to keep in mind when you measure your body weight and discuss weight loss options with your healthcare provider. These factors go well beyond the ratio of body fat to height and may include genetics, ethnicity, family history, and a whole lot more. But anyone who has struggled on their weight loss or weight gain journey knows that there are many factors involved in determining our weight.

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