Is BMI an Accurate Measure of Health?

Is BMI an Accurate Measure of Health?

It doesn’t matter whether you are reading an article about an exercise or diet plan on the web, searching for effective weight loss strategies, or attending a doctor’s appointment; you will most likely come across the abbreviation – BMI.

Body mass index has long been used worldwide to assess body weight and associated health risks. Besides that, WHO and various state health institutions are using BMI calculators to track population obesity rates.

Despite its widespread application, BMI is not universal and has some flaws. In the article below, we will discuss BMI’s accuracy, history, and downsides, compare it to alternative options, and try to answer the main question—Is it an accurate measure of our health status?

What Does Your BMI Mean?

Body mass index is a value that allows you to assess the degree of correspondence between a person’s mass and height, thereby judging whether the mass is insufficient, normal, or excessive.

It is based on a mathematical formula that divides a person’s weight in kilograms by their height in square meters.

BMI = weight (kg) / height (m2)

If you are more comfortable with the imperial system, you can use the alternative formula:

BMI = (weight (lbs) / height (in^2)) x 703

According to the results, you will fall into one of these categories:

BMIClassificationHealth risks
<16.5Severely underweightVery high
<18.5UnderweightHigh
18.5 - 24.9Normal weightLow
25- 29.9OverweightLow to moderate
30 - 34.9Obesity class I High
35 - 39.9Obesity class II Very high
>40 Obesity class III or extreme obesityExtremely high
Is BMI an Accurate Measure of Health?

Is BMI an Accurate Measure of Health?

History of BMI

To better understand why BMI sometimes fails to assess individual health, we must look into its development history.

Around 200 years ago, being overweight was not generally seen as a significant health issue since low body weight was the leading concern of medical practitioners.

However, with the rise of science, the correlation between excess weight and morbidity became clearer. At the beginning of the 20th century, insurance companies began to use weight charts to facilitate the standardization of the medical selection process.

The need for a more practical index became more apparent in the 1950s when numerous actuaries reported the increased mortality of their overweight policyholders. 

The modern term “body mass index” was coined in 1972 when Ancel Keys, Ph.D., published “Indices of Relative Weight and Obesity” in the Journal of Chronic Diseases.

In his study, the author used the data of more than 7,000 men from European countries and offered a weight-to-height index (also known as the Quetelet index), created in 1832 by Adolphe Quetelet, as a way to evaluate body weight about height. 

Quetelet was a mathematician, not a physician, so he created the formula following statistics, concentrating on the average human body.

Even Dr. Keys judged BMI appropriate for population studies and inappropriate for individual evaluation. Still, due to its simplicity, BMI has become widely used for preliminary diagnoses. 

Downsides of BMI and When it is Inaccurate

  • The BMI was not originally designed to measure health

This should not come as a surprise after reviewing the history of BMI creation in the previous section. Adolph Quetelet worked on the concept of “Homme Moyen” or average man.

All his works concentrated on the population average, or, in other words, His formula reflects how much people weigh on average. It does not intend to give medical advice on how much people should weigh.

  • BMI can not differentiate between fat and muscle

Even though BMI is used to measure body fat composition, it fails to depict the truth in the case of individuals with decent muscular mass.

The formula assumes all weights have been equal, but 1kg of muscle takes up less space than 1kg of fat.

As a result, two people with the same weight and height who look completely different—one is lean and muscular, and the other has high fat mass—will have the same BMI.

If we take the iconic boxer Mike Tyson in his prime, with his 5 ft 10 in (178 cm) height and 218 pounds (99 kg) weight, he would have a BMI of 31.6 – obesity class 1, with high health risks. It does not make sense, right?

The same problem arises with athletes and the elderly, who tend to have less muscle mass and lower bone density and may have false “normal” BMI.

So, it is important to consider a person’s muscle, fat, and bone mass and not rely solely on BMI.

  • It does not consider the fat distribution.

In general, high fat mass is linked to poor health outcomes, but the location of fat matters.

People with pear-shaped bodies and fat stored around the stomach possess a greater risk of chronic diseases.

A 2020 meta-analysis of 72 studies, with more than 2 million participants, concluded that central obesity “independent of overall adiposity, was positive and significantly associated with higher all-cause mortality risk.

Larger hip circumference and thigh circumference were associated with a lower risk. The results suggest that measures of central adiposity could be used with body mass index as a supplementary approach to determine the risk of premature death.”

  • It does not consider other factors of health.

We have already mentioned that BMI does not consider fat distribution, muscle mass, and age.

Multiple other factors determine our health, including genetics, gender, race, lifestyle, past medical and family history, or lab values. Cholesterol, blood glucose, and arterial pressure are essential health measurements, as is BMI.

So, it is not always a good idea to rely solely on BMI to determine cardiovascular, endocrine, or overall health status.

  • It may lead to weight bias and even stigma about weight

Sometimes, overconcentration on BMI, especially when a patient presents with non-weight-related problems, may divert attention from serious health issues and lead to poor healthcare quality.

In addition, a study about weight bias shows that it negatively affects a patient’s engagement and causes a delay in health service. People with high BMI tend to miss their regular checkups because of previous negative experiences and fear of being judged.

Once we have listed the downsides of the BMI application, we can name the people groups for which BMI may be inaccurate:

Athletes

Due to high muscle mass.

Elderly

The study of BMI and all-cause mortality in older adults shows that BMI less than 23 in people over 65 is associated with higher health risks and it’s better to have a BMI of 27. 

Asian and black people

Numerous studies have confirmed that Asians have more body fat at any given BMI compared to Europeans. Asians are also more likely to accumulate fat around the waistline.

We have already mentioned that abdominal fat is the most dangerous.

As a result of these differences, Asians have an increased risk of chronic diseases at lower BMI values, so WHO developed Asian-Pacific BMI guidelines, which provide alternative BMI cut-off points.

The situation is the opposite in black people, who generally have lower fat and higher muscle mass, so a BMI scale with higher cut-off points should be applied, especially for Black women.

Pregnant or nursing women

Fat percentage increases due to changes during and after pregnancy. These physiological effects are reversible and necessary for baby nourishment. They do not correlate with long-term health risks.

Very tall or concise people

Many mathematicians point out that squaring height in the BMI formula leads to weight division by a number that is too large. Hence, short people are misled into considering themselves thin, and tall people, and vice versa, think they are fatter.

Is BMI a Good Indicator of Health? 

Although BMI might not be accurate in certain individuals or groups, most studies show that it is quite accurate in identifying chronic disease and premature death risks, especially for people with a BMI lower than 18.5 and higher than 30.

Obesity significantly increases the risk of type 2 diabetes and heart, kidney, liver, and lung diseases.

Furthermore, studies have demonstrated that reducing BMI is associated with decreased rates of the above-listed diseases. The reliability of the data is unquestioned.

A study published in 2014 describes the correlation between BMI and mortality risk in 17,000 adults.

“Underweight” people tend to live an average of 6.7 years less and “extremely obese” people are 3.7 years less than people with a normal range of BMI.

The risks are not attributed to cardiovascular or endocrine diseases alone; sociodemographic and behavioral factors are also involved.

Another 2017 retrospective study of more than 100,000 deaths revealed that people with BMI >30 had, on average, two times greater risk of death.   

Alternatives to BMI

Body fat percentage assessment

This can be done using tools like skinfold measurement or bioelectrical impedance analysis. Both have a high risk of error.

Alternatively, a dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry will be more effective but quite expensive. It offers a more detailed picture for individual purposes, but it can not be used as a massive screening tool. 

Waist circumference

It reflects your central obesity and some studies found it more useful for determining the risk of developing type 2 diabetes and other obesity-related disorders. For men: waist measurement above 40 inches (102cm)  indicates a higher risk.

For women, the limit is 35 inches (88cm). The main benefit of using waist circumference is that it requires only a measuring tape, but as with BMI, it does not consider different body types. 

The waist-to-hip or waist-to-height ratio

These methods are also straightforward; you will need a measuring tape and calculator.

Waist-to-hip ratios of more than 0.95 in men and 0.8 in women are considered high, indicating visceral fat. In turn, an ideal waist-to-height ratio should not exceed 0.5. These methods, as the previous one, do not consider differences in body types.

Bottom Line

BMI is a simple, inexpensive, and noninvasive way to measure body fat. This accounts for its wide use in defining obesity in general populations, and multiple studies prove its efficacy in this field.

But as a single measure, it is not perfect. Health practitioners can not rely on BMI values alone and should always be aware of the above-listed downsides. 

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