Body mass index, or BMI, is a measurement used to determine whether you fall within a healthy weight range. Calculate your BMI by dividing your weight in kilograms by your height in meters squared. According to the BMI standard, a BMI exceeding 25 indicates that a person is overweight. A BMI of 30 or higher makes you obese. Insurance companies, hospitals, doctors and even police departments use BMI to make determinations about patient and employee health. Although BMI may be accurate for some people, for others it fails to provide an accurate weight-related health assessment.
Unspecific
BMI measurements do not take into account age or gender. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, even if a man and a woman possess the same BMI level, the woman will most likely have more fat. Older people also tend to have a higher amount of fat than younger people who have the same BMI. Mayoclinic.com reports that the inability of BMI to make these distinctions, particularly in terms of gender, results in the failure to categorize many women between the ages of 20 and 33 years as obese. If these women think they have a healthy weight, they may not take action to reduce weight and continue poor habits that contribute to increased risk of developing certain chronic, obesity-triggered diseases.
Body Composition
BMI does not take into account your percentage of lean body mass versus fat, or body composition. As a result, athletes or bodybuilders who have a significant amount of muscle mass may fall into an unhealthy BMI range because of their weight, but they do not have a dangerous amount of body fat.
Fat Distribution
BMI is limited in measuring where the fat on your body is stored. Even people of a healthy weight and BMI range may possess too much belly fat, which is a risk factor for a myriad of health problems, including cardiovascular disease, stroke, some cancers, type 2 diabetes and dementia. In an article in a November 2006 issue of The Guardian, Dr. Margaret Ashwell, a visiting research fellow in nutrition at Oxford Brookes University and a former member of Britain's Food Advisory Committee, notes that health professionals should be concerned with how body fat distributes around the body.
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