Is BMI the Best Way to Measure Obesity?

An international committee of scientists has proposed a new way to determine excess body fat instead of just relying on body mass index (BMI). More than 50 experts in fields such as nutrition, endocrinology and public health published their recommendations in the peer-reviewed journal The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology on Tuesday, Jan. 14.
The report’s findings suggest that BMI — the measurement traditionally used by medical professionals to determine healthy weight ranges — does not provide a nuanced enough assessment of health as it relates to weight. The Lancet report suggests that another metric is far more useful when determining a patient’s overall health: the amount of belly fat they have.
The report’s authors note that attaining this information can be done in multiple ways, including measuring a person’s waist, waist-to-hip ratio or waist-to-height ratio. There are also scans that exist that can determine the precise amount of excess belly fat on a patient.
Excerpted from People