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. Or use the free BMI calculator offered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) if arithmetic isn't your thing.But anyone who has struggled on their weight loss or weight gain journey knows that there are many factors involved in determining our weight. If your weight and height are not in this sample chart, use the mathematical equation below to find out where you fall. Where those numbers intersect is your BMI, which will be in the normal (healthy), overweight, or obese range. If you're an adult, locate your height in inches (remember, there are 12 inches in each foot) and your weight in pounds on the BMI chart below. How to Read a BMI Chart and How to Calculate Your BMI Since BMI is a measure still widely in use, it’s helpful to understand it, and how you can calculate it on your own. If weight loss is a goal for you, recommendations should not be based solely on this one number but on decisions you make with your healthcare team, taking both your goals and health risks into consideration. While your healthcare team may still look at your BMI, the American Medical Association recommends that it be used in conjunction with other valid measures of risk, such as body composition, waist circumference, and genetic or metabolic factors. It’s no longer considered to be something that defines you, nor can the measure alone tell you if you’re a healthy person or not. Today that thinking has undergone a sea change, with health experts questioning the validity and usefulness of BMI as a health assessment tool. The traditional thinking about BMI was that it could tell you if you were at a healthy weight, or if your health might benefit if you lost or gained a few (or more) pounds. Body mass index, or BMI for short, is a measure of body weight based on your height.
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