Health warning over BMI scale
MILLIONS of people are healthy, despite being branded overweight, say researchers.
Doctors advise if someone is overweight or obese on the basis of the Body Mass Index (BMI) and may tell them to lose weight
But a study suggests that the index – which indicates whether someone is a healthy weight for their height – can be misleading.
Far from being under a ‘death sentence’, many people classed as obese are perfectly healthy, the researchers found.
Doctors may be wrongly advising some with high BMIs to l ose weight. Rather than becoming obsessed about weight, it may be better to ensure they have a healthy diet and regular exercise. When other health indicators were taken alongside BMI, the study showed that nearly half of all people labelled overweight and roughly a third of people labelled obese had little to worry about.
At the same time, around one in three people with apparently healthy BMI figures may have a false sense of security when they are actually at risk of heart disease, based on blood tests and their blood pressure readings.
The researchers say the focus on BMI by healthcare systems is also adding to ‘anti-fat bias’, increasing the prejudice the overweight face.
In the study, based on the US population, around half of adults classified as ‘overweight’ – some 34.4million – were found to be healthy. A further 29 per cent of obese i ndividuals – around 19.8million – were also deemed healthy.
Among the ‘ very obese’ – those with a BMI of more than 35 – 15 per cent, or around two million, had a clean bill of health.
Researcher Janet Tomiyama of the University of California, Los Angeles, suggested that the findings incorrectly label more than 54million Americans as unhealthy.
The findings would suggest that many millions of Britons classed as overweight or obese by their GPs may be healthy.
Study co-author Jeffrey Hunger said the study ‘should be the final nail in the coffin for BMI’.