body mass index

Body mass index, or BMI, is a calculation method of relating a person's weight to their height, so as to determine if they fall within or outside healthy weight ranges. BMI does not, in fact, measure the amount of fat present in a person's body, but generates a number which can be used as a guideline to estimate a person's overall physical condition. Consequently, BMI can indicate if a person is underweight, normal, overweight, or obese by dividing their body weight to the square of their height. For individuals who want to quickly determine how they score, an online BMI calculator, which applies this very formula, can be used.

It is believed that the body mass index was conceived sometime between 1830s and 1850s by Belgian scientist Adolphe Quetelet. It has become increasingly popular over the last decades, however, as obesity slowly turned into a more noticeable issue in developed countries. BMI can be used as a medical tool for evaluating populations (or large communities) rather than individuals, as it fails to take into account other variables such as body shape, muscle mass and bone density, which may differ greatly between individuals. When evaluating populations, however, the body mass index provides accurate information for the human average.

When applied to an individual, BMI can provide a starting point that allows health professionals to discuss the issue of body weight with their patients. However, since BMI takes the average person as reference, non-standard individuals (such as athletes) cannot be accurately assessed with this method. For individuals with an average body type, value settings are grouped as follows: a BMI under 18.5 is indicative of an underweight individual, 18.5 to 24 indicates optimal weight, 24 to 30 indicates that a person is overweight, while a BMI above 30 is indicative of obesity. Rare individuals who score above 40 on the body mass index are considered to be morbidly obese.

A 1994 U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey revealed that 59% of American men and 49% of women were overweight, while 2% of men and women were obese. A 2007 survey has shown that these figures have increased to 63% of Americans being overweight and 26% being now obese.

You'll find bloggers talking about body mass index at sites like newsroom.ucla.edu and healthfinder.gov.

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Original Technorati articles tagged “body mass index”

• in Lifestyle
  Know Your Numbers: Body Mass Index and Waist-to-Hip Ratio
  What These Measurements Say About Your Health
  by beckyack / on Aug 8, 2011

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