Rapid Fire
Reevaluating Obesity Metrics
- 17 Jan 2025
- 2 min read
The long-standing reliance on Body Mass Index (BMI) for diagnosing obesity is increasingly being questioned due to its limitations.
- BMI can overestimate obesity in muscular individuals like athletes and underestimate obesity in those with excessive fat but low muscle mass.
- The Lancet recommends using alternative metrics such as waist circumference, waist-hip ratio, and waist-height ratio, which consider gender, age, and ethnicity differences.
- Obesity should be classified as pre-clinical (no organ dysfunction) and clinical (with organ dysfunction and activity impairment).
- BMI is a measure used to assess whether a person has a healthy body weight for a given height. It is calculated using a person's weight and height.
- Obesity in India: As per The Lancet, 70% of India's urban population is classified as obese or overweight.
- India ranks 3rd, just behind the US and China, in the list of top 10 countries with the highest number of obese individuals.
- Obesity is a health condition caused by excessive body fat, diagnosed when BMI is 30 or higher.
Read More: Growing Obesity in India
