Is Body Mass Index correct way to calculate obesity?

BMI or Body Mass Index is a formula that measures the level of fat in human body,considering the height and weight of a person. An overweight person has BMI 25 and above, whereas an underweight person has BMI18.5. In both cases, it is an indication towards health risks. You should know the number of your BMI in order to live a healthy and risk free life.However, the accuracy of measuring obesity with BMI is still questionable. Some health experts believe that Body Mass Indexis not the correct way to calculate obesity, as many false results have come in notice where people having obesity are classified as normal and vice versa.

How valid is BMI

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To check the validness of Body Mass Index, it is primarily essential to know that being overweight and obese are two different things. YourBMI may show you as overweight or normal, but there are still chances of you being obese. This happens mainly because of deficiency of lean mass in the body that includes glycogen, muscle and water.On the other hand, people classified as obese through the Body Mass Index were obese because of the body fats. Thus, BMI does not differentiate between muscle mass and body fat.

BMI can be different for several ethnic groups. For example, Caucasians can have higher BMI as compared to Asians, thus have higher risk of health problems. Furthermore, some adults who have lost the bone mass and muscle do not have an accurate BMI, as there will always be a possibility of error. National Institute of Health (NIH) suggests that BMI alone cannot be the way to assess a person being overweight. Many doctors also check the circumference of the waist to measure stomach fat, as well as other risk factorslike high cholesterol, high blood sugar and high blood pressure.

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