Body Mass Index (BMI) Is An Inconsistent Measure Of The Overall Health Of A Person, Researchers Say

BMI is a helpful tool that measures the weight and health risks of an individual. However, health care experts question its accuracy.

Medical News Today reported that the study was led by A. Janet Tomiyama, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA). She evaluated the link between cardiometabolic health records -- the measures of triglycerides, insulin resistance, blood pressure, glucose, cholesterol and C-reactive protein and the BMI -- utilizing the data from the latest National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). The findings were then reported in the International Journal of Obesity.

The study shows 54 million Americans who are classified as overweight and obese based in their BMIs are declared to be in perfect health. On the other hand, 21 million Americans whose BMIs are categorized as normal are unhealthy.

"Many people see obesity as a death sentence. But the data show these are tens of millions of people who are overweight and obese are perfectly healthy," Prof. Tomiyama said.

Most employers use the BMI in knowing the health status of their employees to compute their health costs. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has a proposed regulation that the U.S. employers can charge their employees up to 30 percent of health care costs if they did not meet the particular health criteria like having BMI, not in the normal range--between 18.5 and 24.99.

Prof. Tomiyama said that it is unfair for healthy people to be penalized and the unhealthy people will not be charged for their health insurance based on their BMI. "Employers Policy makers and insurance companies should focus on actual health markers," she suggested.

National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute states that the Body Mass Index (BMI) is the extent of the body fat that is based on the height and weight of adult women and men. Your BMI is computed by entering your height and weight using the metric or standard measures. The BMI categorized the underweight as less than 18.5, the normal weight is in between 18.5 to 24.9; the overweight is between 25 and 29.9 and obesity has a BMI of 30 or greater.