Skip to main content

Is BMI a good indicator of a healthy weight?

Hi guys, we’re about to share with you the opinion from five experts of different fields to answer an interesting question: Is BMI a good indicator of a healthy weight? Or is it a formula from the past that should come back to there?


We are at www.bodyhealthfirst.com. Follow Us There! :)


Is your weight good for now? Check with our BMI calculator: click here.

Maybe you will also enjoy:

Image: BMI Calculator

First of all, according to Robert H. Shmerling, MD (Senior Faculty Editor, Harvard Health Publishing) BMI is a calculation of your size that takes into account your height and weight. A normal BMI is between 18.5 and 25; a person with a BMI between 25 and 30 is considered overweight, and a person with a BMI over 30 is considered obese, and also a person is considered underweight if hers/his number is less than 18.5. Although its origin is over 200 years old, it is fairly new as a measure of health.

As with most measures of health, BMI is not a perfect test. For example, results can be thrown off by pregnancy or high muscle mass, and it may not be a good measure of health for children or the elderly.

According to an article which you can find at “Scientific American” the BMI is an unperfect kind of measurement. We can begin with a common fact that it doesn't distinguish between body fat and muscle mass, which is important because a hunk of muscle weighs more than the same size hunk of fat.

Some good examples of this misinterpretation, according to an analysis of BMI’s Blind Spots, are former Olympians Usain Bolt and Michael Phelps, who just narrowly miss the 'overweight' camp. Then there is star NFL quarterback Tom Brady who’s BMI categorizes him as obese. Also, basketball player Lebron James and NHL right-winger, Phil Kessel, both have a BMI of 27.5 and as we will learn later, a BMI between 25-29.9 is considered overweight.

The experts’ answers are the following:

Alessandro Demaio (MD) says that: “There are two questions here – whether BMI is a good indicator of weight, and whether weight is an accurate reflection of health. BMI, the tool most often used to determine “healthy weight ranges”, was designed primarily to track the weight of populations. While it’s a simple and useful screening tool when looking at groups of people, it’s not an accurate marker of individual health. This is because BMI is a measure of our height and our weight, and the ratios of their combination. But weight alone doesn’t discriminate between a kilogram of fat versus a kilogram of muscle, nor does it account for body shape and fat distribution differences relating to, say, ethnicity or gender.
Then, just as not all overweight individuals have heart disease risk factors or unhealthy metabolisms (the conversion of food into energy), not all lean people have healthy ones. As a rough rule of thumb, both BMI and weight are still helpful for estimating healthiness – particularly when combined with a measurement of waist circumference – and excess weight or significant weight gain are associated with a range of disease outcomes. But BMI or weight alone do not replace the need for a proper checkup with your GP, nor do they provide a guarantee of well-being.”

Emma Gearon (Epidemiologist): BMI is a simple indicator of weight for height and can't differentiate between muscle mass and fat mass. So, BMI tends to overestimate the health risk for adults with a high muscle mass, such as some athletes, and underestimate the risk for adults with a low muscle mass, as can occur with sedentary lifestyles. Despite this limitation, BMI is generally thought to adequately identify risk across the whole population.

But we have recently found BMI is increasingly underestimating the level of risk in the Australian population compared to waist circumference. In the 2011-12 health survey, 10% of women classified as normal weight by BMI, and 50% of women and 25% of men classified as overweight by BMI were obese according to their waist circumference. Consequently, BMI underestimated the prevalence of obesity by almost 50% for women and 30% for men. BMI can no longer be considered a reliable indicator of healthy weight, and further research is needed to identify a suitable alternative.

Evelyn Parr (Exercise Scientist): Indicators of strength, fitness, and central fat tissue are far more indicative of health than BMI. BMI does not tell us how much muscle someone has, or where their body fat is distributed such as the arms and legs vs around the middle. BMI indicates one’s weight when taking into consideration how tall they are. As such, BMI is a great measure for large studies or the time-poor doctor’s office.

Many studies, normally with thousands of participants, use BMI as a mortality predictor. As individuals, our focus should be on our fitness, as it’s our muscle that helps us stay healthy while we age. If we don’t maintain muscle, we face a generation of people with low muscle mass and too much fat. Let’s look at more important measures of fitness to indicate how healthy an individual is – irrespective of their body weight, and keep BMI for the large studies.

Steve Stannard (Nutrition & Sport): For an individual, BMI alone is not a good indicator of whether someone is a healthy body weight. The body mass index roughly describes a person’s shape; a higher BMI representing someone with a large volume to surface area (wide for their height, ball-shaped), while a low BMI describes the opposite (thin for their height, stick-shaped). Most often, someone who is wide is probably so because they carry a lot of body fat, but not always. Sometimes they are just short and muscular, and plenty of fit muscle is healthy!

However, at a population level, we do know that on average a person with a high BMI has a greater chance of suffering from many non-communicable diseases, including diabetes and heart disease, which are associated with carrying too much body fat. BMI would be better described as a good indicator of the health of a population.

Tim Crowe (Dietician): BMI only gives a very approximate guide to health-related to weight and height and gives no information on body fat content or location. BMI ranges can also vary depending on ethnicity. It is also now acknowledged that as we enter into older age, a higher BMI is linked to improved nutritional status, protection against falls, and lower disease risk.

Simple measurements such as waist circumference are more useful for an individual as they look directly at body fat around the abdomen which is more directly related to disease risk. BMI is much better for looking at the health of whole populations and how this change over time rather then as a diagnostic tool for an individual.

Is your weight good for now? Check with our BMI calculator clicking here.


References:

https://theconversation.com/is-bmi-a-good-way-to-tell-if-my-weight-is-healthy-we-asked-five-experts-96985#:~:text=BMI%20is%20a%20simple%20indicator,can%20occur%20with%20sedentary%20lifestyles.

https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/how-useful-is-the-body-mass-index-bmi-201603309339

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/is-bmi-an-accurate-way-to-measure-body-fat/

Marcadores:

Comments

Post a Comment

We will be glad to read a few words here!!! :)

Popular posts from this blog

7 Fake News About COVID-19

We are at  www.bodyhealthfirst.com . Follow Us There! :) Hi there, we’re here again to save you, my favorite guys!!! There’re some myths about the actual virus we’ll discuss in this article. Please consider reading the MythBusters section at https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/advice-for-public/myth-busters . Maybe you will also enjoy : 6 Books to read during the quarantine 15 of coronavirus's symptoms   4 ways to stay safe and sane during coronavirus lockdown   5 Fake News about COVID-19             Warning: One of the first scientific papers of its kind, published in BMJ Global Health, reveals that more than 25% of the most viewed COVID-19 videos on YouTube in spoken English contains misleading or inaccurate information. You can check here all analysis using real data, its method, and also results ( https://gh.bmj.com/content/5/5/e002604 ). “The primary objective of this study is to evaluate the accuracy, usability, and quality of the most widely
Post a Comment
Read more

Ivermectin: Better than Hydroxychloroquine ?

We are at  www.bodyhealthfirst.com . Follow Us There! :) A study team, sponsored in Bangladesh by Upazila Health & Family Planning Officer’s (UHFPO) Office, concluded that concerning the treatment outcome, adverse effect, and safety, the Ivermectin and Doxycycline the combination was superior to the use of Hydroxychloroquine and Azithromycin therapy in the case of a mild to moderate degree of COVID-19 patients. Although both treatment regimens were observed to be effective for this study, the Ivermectin treatment was superior. The Research team recently shared the results via the preprint server and ResearchGate. Maybe you will also enjoy :   4 ways to stay safe and sane during coronavirus lockdown   Fake News about COVID-19 15 of coronavirus's symptoms: The investigators observed 181 patients who had tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 infection by RT PCR undertaken at Cox’s Bazar Medical College. The participants were observed carefully for family history and any comorbidit
Post a Comment
Read more

6 Best Sellers to read during quarantine

We are at  www.bodyhealthfirst.com . Follow Us There! :) While quarantine may be only temporary, even brief periods of isolation and loneliness can have negative consequences on both physical and mental well-being. Thinking about this, we have to bear in mind that we should take care of our mental health, so here comes the greatest list composed of 6 books to read during the quarantine. We will be glad to help you stay healthy and safe at home. Maybe you will also enjoy :   https://bodyhealthfirst.blogspot.com/2020/04/5-great-cooking-e-books-for-free.html 1.      Unfu*k Yourself: Get Out of Your Head and into Your Life (New York Times Best Seller) Buy at Amazon(Affiliate  link ) : https://amzn.to/3bnuju4 Joining the ranks of  The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a F*ck ,  The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck ,  You Are a Badass , and  F*ck Feelings  is this refreshing, BS-free self-empowerment guide that offers an honest, no-nonsense, tough-love approach to help you move past sel
Post a Comment
Read more

4 ways to stay safe and sane during coronavirus lockdown

We are at  www.bodyhealthfirst.com . Follow Us There! :) Hi There, here come some tips to help you guys in these days of the pandemic. According to Sarita Robinson, principal lecturer at the psychology University of Central Lancashire, in terms of mental and body care, there are a few things you should bear in mind to make the next days of isolation better. Maybe you will also enjoy : 5 great cooking e-books almost for free 6 Books to read during the quarantine 5 great cooking e-books almost for free 1. Improve your immune system Research on the effects of loneliness suggests that when people lack social connections, they are more likely to suffer from physical health problems. And studies have found that polar research crews can suffer from reductions in their immune system. The good news is that the period of self-isolation needed for the current virus should not result in any marked changes in how your immune system works. But during self-isolation, it may be a good id
Post a Comment
Read more

9 Foods to Boost Your Immune System Part 1

We are at  www.bodyhealthfirst.com . Follow Us There! :) Most people turn to vitamin C after they've caught a cold. That’s because it helps build up your immune system. Vitamin C increases the growth of white blood cells which are key to fighting infections. Popular citrus fruits include oranges, tangerines, lemons, limes, grapefruit, clementines. Because your body doesn't produce or store it, you need daily vitamin C for continued health. Maybe you will also enjoy : P art 2 5 great cooking e-books almost for free 4 ways to stay safe and sane during coronavirus lockdown   5F ake News about COVID-19 If you think citrus fruits have the most vitamin C of any fruit or vegetable, think again. Ounce for ounce, red bell peppers contain twice as much vitamin C as citrus. They’re also a rich source of beta carotene, that helps keep your eyes and skin healthy. Broccoli is supercharged with vitamins and minerals. Packed with vitamin C, also A and E, as well as many other antioxida
Post a Comment
Read more

5 Great cooking e-Books almost for free

We are at  www.bodyhealthfirst.com . Follow Us There! :) Hi guys, there are a list of 5 great cheapest e-books to read during the quarantine from amazon, down here, talking about healthy eating with to many different kinds of recipes.         Maybe you will enjoy others of our articles: 6 Books to read during the quarantine 9 Foods to Boost Your Immune System Part 1 5 Foods to Boost Your Immune System Part 2 1.   Instant Pot Cookbook: The Ultimate Guide Plus 101 Delicious Recipes  Kindle Edition Buy at Amazon(Affiliate  link ) :  https://amzn.to/3cpEnCQ Have you ever used a pressure cooker before? If your answer is yes, then learning how to cook with an Instant Pot shouldn’t be very difficult for you. The Instant Pot is a digital pressure cooker that allows you to cook different types of foods. However, unlike conventional pressure cookers, the Instant Pot provides many functiona lities like rice cooking, slow cooking, steaming, yogurt making, browning pan, and warming pot. I
Post a Comment
Read more

Can vitamin D protect against COVID-19?

Currently, there’s no cure or treatment for COVID-19. No studies have investigated the effect of vitamin D supplements or vitamin D deficiency on risk of contracting the new coronavirus that causes COVID-19. We are at  www.bodyhealthfirst.com . Follow Us There! :) Maybe you will also enjoy :   4 ways to stay safe and sane during coronavirus lockdown   5 Fake News about COVID-19 15 of coronavirus's symptoms 5 great cooking books Still, multiple studies have shown that vitamin D deficiency can harm immune function and increase your risk of developing respiratory illnesses.  Additionally, some studies have indicated that vitamin D supplements can enhance immune response and protect against respiratory infections overall. Get Vitamin D at amazon:   https://amzn.to/3bSjuBh A recent review that included 11,321 people from 14 countries demonstrated that supplementing with vitamin D decreased the risk of acute respiratory infections (ARI) in both those who were deficient in vitamin D an
Post a Comment
Read more

What is Coronavirus and 15 Symptoms

We are at  www.bodyhealthfirst.com . Follow Us There! :) Coronavirus disease 2019  ( COVID-19 ) is an  infectious disease  caused by  severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2  (SARS-CoV-2). The disease was first identified in December 2019 in  Wuhan , the capital of China's  Hubei  province, and has since spread globally, resulting in the ongoing  2019–20 coronavirus pandemic . Maybe you will also enjoy :   4 ways to stay safe and sane during coronavirus lockdown   Fake News about COVID-19 Common  symptoms  include  fever ,  cough , and  shortness of breath .  Other symptoms may include fatigue,  muscle pain ,  diarrhea ,  sore throat ,  loss of smell , and abdominal pain.  The  time from exposure to onset of symptoms  is typically around five days but may range from two to fourteen days. While the majority of cases result in mild symptoms, some progress to viral  pneumonia  and  multi-organ failure . As of 14 April 2020, more than 1.94 million cases  have been reported
Post a Comment
Read more

We Have A New Site. Follow Us There! :) www.bodyhealthfirst.com

  We are at  www.bodyhealthfirst.com . Follow Us There! :) We recommend some really tremendous health programs. Choose what you need the most: Diet or workout or both, and enjoy the journey with us!   Discover how to get fit below!
Post a Comment
Read more