Body Mass Index (BMI) is a measure that is used to assess bodyweight in relation to height. BMI is calculated by dividing weight in kilograms by height in metres squared. So, for example, a BMI of 30 means 30 kg/m2.
It is still a widely used tool for initially assessing obesity, although it is limited as it cannot distinguish what the weight is made up of. For example, the difference between muscle, fat of fluid.
Being within the healthy range of 18.5 to 24.9 suggests that a person is carrying a healthy amount of body weight in relation to their height. A BMI greater than 24.9 can suggest that a person is carrying excess body weight which may be detrimental to their health. Similarly, if a person has a BMI lower than 18.5, this could suggest that a person is underweight, which could also have detrimental effects on their health.
Typically, Asians are more prone to accumulating visceral fat inside the stomach cavity and around the organs, at a lower BMI than Caucasians.
The WHO (World Health Organisation) recommends that some Asian groups should be considered overweight if their BMI is 22-25, and obese with a BMI of 26-31.
Further, due to sarcopenia (the age-related loss of skeletal muscle), muscle mass decreases and body fat increases as people age. This can lead to BMI giving misleading results in the population aged 60 years and above.
A BMI reading outside of the healthy range may suggest that an intervention is required. This could be to either lose or gain body weight.
For example, an elite athlete with extremely high muscle mass but who is not very tall, may present as outside of the healthy range but this would not be because of unhealthy fat mass.
If you have any questions, please seek advice from a medical or fitness professional where you use boditrax, or get in touch with boditrax anytime via support@boditrax.com
World Health Organization (WHO). Obesity and overweight factsheet from the WHO.2011 Available from:www.thehealthwell.info/node/82914 [Accessed: 12th May 2016].
