Talking about one’s health, most people rely on Body Mass index or BMI. Which tell if your weight is correct considering your height. However, throughout the time experts have suggested BMI is not accurate to measure of one’s health.
Well, an article on Googleweblight said, after asking four experts about BMI. Whether it is an accurate measure of one’s health or not. So while all of them said “No.”
Alessandro Demaio MD
According to Alessandro, BMI is a simple tool for healthy weight range. However, the question is whether the weight of a person is an accurate reflection of one’s health. This is because BMI is a measure of our height and our weight, and the ratios of their combination. However, weight alone doesn’t discriminate between a kilogram of fat versus a kilogram of muscle, nor does it account for body shape and fat distribution differences relating to, say, ethnicity or gender.
Emma Gearson, An Epidemiologist
According to Emma, BMI is a simple indicator of weight and height. However, it can not differentiate between muscles mass and fat mass. Such as some athletes, and underestimate the risk for adults with a low muscle mass, as can occur with sedentary lifestyles. Despite this limitation, BMI is generally thought to identify risk across the whole population adequately.
Evelyn Parr, An Exercise Scientist
According to Evely their many indicators which provide better information. Indicators of strength, fitness and central fat tissue are far more indicative of health than BMI. BMI can not measure how much muscle one has, or where their body fat is distributed such as the arms and legs vs. around the middle. BMI underestimated the prevalence of obesity by almost 50 percent for women and 30 percent for men.
Steve Stannard, Nutrition and Sport
According to Steve, BMI alone is not sufficient. It only tells about one’s shape. A higher BMI is representing someone with a large volume to surface area (wide for their height, ball-shaped), while a low BMI describes the opposite (thin for their height, stick shaped).
When someone who has more weight doesn’t mean he carries a lot of body fat. Sometimes they are just short and muscular, and plenty of fit muscle is healthy!