A new study suggests that body mass index (BMI) might be the wrong health metric for a large portion of the population.
It found that many people labelled as overweight or obese did not actually have the corresponding body fat levels, while others were missed entirely.
This was based on comparing standard BMI results with “dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA)” testing, which was regarded as the gold standard for determining body fat levels.
Professor Marwan El Ghoch of the Department of Biomedical, Metabolic and Neural Sciences at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia said the limitations made it difficult for BMI to accurately reflect adiposity (the excessive accumulation of body fat).
He said, despite these concerns, BMI remained widely used in both clinical care (like general practitioners) and non-clinical settings (like policy and health insurance).
The study involved 1351 adults between the ages of 18 and 98 years, with 60 percent female participants.
The participants were all white caucasian, reflecting known differences in BMI across ethnic groups.
“The comparison revealed notable differences,” the study report said.
“Among individuals classified as obese by BMI, more than one-third (34 percent) were actually in the overweight category based on DXA results.
“Misclassification was even more pronounced among those labeled overweight by BMI, where over half (53 percent) were placed in the wrong category. Of these, about three quarters were actually within the normal weight range, while the remaining quarter met criteria for obesity.”
The findings will be presented at the European Congress on Obesity next month.
More information is available at Science Daily
