Using BMI- Body Mass Index as a health indicator is turning out to be a wrong practice as it is a deeply flawed measure, as a study revealed.
According to The Hindu, BMI, which is a popular measure of health, mainly due to its simplicity, one could take his height and weight, post it into a calculator and there comes out a number use by doctors and insurers to gauge health.
However, a study conducted by the University Of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) revealed that, BMI incorrectly labeled more than 30 percent of persons within the “normal” range i.e. about 20.7 million people, as healthy in contrary to their other health data that indicated they were actually unhealthy.
Whereas, more than two million people i.e. 15 percent classified “very obese” by virtue of having a BMI of 35 or higher are actually healthy. “The data shows there are tens of millions of people who are overweight and obese and are perfectly healthy,” said A. Janet Tomiyama, assistant professor at UCLA.
And, there are people who are healthy but are penalised based on a faulty
health measure, while the unhealthy ones but being of normal weight remain undetected under the BMI radar, she added.
The study recommended that people should focus on healthy eating and regular exercise, rather than to obsess about their weight. The study was based on the analysis between the BMI and several health markers, including blood pressure and glucose, cholesterol and triglyceride levels, using data from National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.
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