Why your BMI is not an accurate reflection of your health

The best way to check if your weight is healthy is to calculate your body-mass index (BMI). Even So? No, not necessarily, according to a recently published article in the journal Science. It is suggested that your BMI calculate an accurate picture of your metabolic health.

Indicated that BMI did not tell you everything in the perspective of two researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. The point is that your BMI is actually only displays your weight and height. Thus Rexford Ahima, a professor of medicine and director of the Institute for Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism at the University of Pennsylvania. BMI measurement ignores issues such as family history, muscle mass and where excess fat is located.

In principle, this is not new. Researchers have long known that BMI represents only a very limited indication of overall health.

How the BMI chart can be misinterpreted

Muscle weighs more than fat. For example, it may be a BMI of muscular higher than the BMI of a less muscular person with the same length.

Where the fat was located on your body is also an important factor. Overweight people can have a healthy blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol levels, but that is probably the case if they have less abdominal fat and more subcutaneous fat says Ahima.

What to use instead of the BMI calculation?

For the above reasons your BMI is only one of many tools. Another important tool such as your waist circumference. Use the Body Shape Index measurement to make an assessment of your health.

The BMI chart is regarded as a reliable indicator of the body weight. However, there may be questioned in the method. Thus, BMI is used for men, women. Women are known to have more body fat than men. In addition, the body mass index applied to people of all ages. The same values ​​apply to children, adults and the elderly. BMI also ignores the structure of the body. Namely, the weight can also be determined by muscles instead of fat. Think of trained individuals with a BMI of more than 25 BMI According to this athlete would be overweight.

In addition, the weight is only one of the things to keep in mind when looking at health. So it is good to remember that BMI is only one factor that is used and that the method is not sacred. In order to gain the body weight of an exact measurement, there are other ways are available like the Body fat calculator or the Body Shape Index. Using the body mass index, we can calculate the relationship between health and body weight.