Body Mass Index – How Accurately Can It Determine Body Fat

By Author: Mccall David
Total Articles: 3
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Today, people all over the world are very concern about health issues. And more than anything else they are concerned about obesity, a common problem that leads to several life- threatening diseases. No-wonder everyone knows about BMI or Body Mass Index and they are eager to ensure that their BMI is well within the limit. For those who are not sure about what BMI denotes, it is a quotient of body mass that considers the height and weight of a person measured as kg/m2. Body Mass Index is often termed as Quetelet Index and it helps to classify sedentary individuals into various groups based on their body mass. There is an equation to calculate a person’s Body Mass Index or BMI. The weight of the person is divided by his/ her height squared. In general, a person whose BMI is 25 or above is considered overweight and a person with BMI of 30 or above is suffering from obesity. And there is hardly any difference between the way BMI for Women and BMI for Men is calculated. A person who has Body Mass Index usually suffers from various weight-related problems and has greater risk of diabetes and heart disease.The concept of BMI was ...
... originally developed by Adolphe Quetelet, the Belgian polymath sometime between 1830 and 1850 while developing social physics. And even these days, health experts use it to judge the trends in health and illness.However, some new researches are indicating that BMI may not be as accurate to determine the fat percentage in a person’s body as it was originally thought. The Saginaw Valley State University and Michigan State University formed a research team and they calculated over 400 college students’ Body Mass Index. Some of these students were athletes and the research found that the BMI of the students failed to reflect their percentage of body fat accurately in most cases, though BMI was mostly accurate. In most cases, it either underestimated or overestimated the body fat. The real reason behind this was that it failed to distinguish between muscle mass and body fat. And considering the fact muscle mass weighs more than body fat, most of the athletes were labeled as obese, even when their body fat is much lower.BMI was also seen to be faulty in elderly adults with lost bone and muscle mass. Their Body Mass Index is often determined to be within the normal range, even when they are overweight. This factor also relate in different manner to different ethnic groups, such as Asians with a lower BMI are often at risk for health problems than Caucasians. Thus, there are possibilities for error in this standard calculation to indicate body mass. As a result, the National Institutes of Health is recommending to consider three factors to determine whether or not the person is overweight. These are:• Body Mass Index calculator• Risk factors for various diseases like high LDL cholesterol, high blood pressure, low HDL cholesterol, smoking, and high blood sugar commonly associated with obesity.• The circumference of the waist, to measure abdominal fat.Many believe that calculating body fat percentage is a better option to know a person’s weight status. However, it is expensive and not easily available like BMI. Also, unlike testing Body Mass Index, these tests need to be done by trained medical professionals.Advanced body mass index calculator for calculating your Body Mass Index. Instant results with recommendations on obtaining your desired weight with the help of BMI for Women