Study Suggests BMI Can’t Predict Your Risk of Death—But This Other Metric Can

Yet another study revealed this body mass index, or BMI– a measure of body fat based on size and weight – is a Bad overall health indicator.

The report, published in the Annals of family medicine In June, the BMI is not reliable to predict the risk of a person’s death. But according to researchers, there is a more effective measure which can be easily evaluated during routine controls: percentage of body fat, Or The proportion of your body composed of fat.

This metric is determined via a bioelectric impedance analysis, a technique that sends an painless electric current through the body to estimate the proportions of body fat, lean muscle mass and water.

Here is what you need to know about increasing concerns about the BMI, and why doctors say that the percentage of body fat can be a smarter metric.

Since the body composition is linked to a higher risk of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular and early death, doctors have traditionally recognized themselves on BMI to assess the fat, bones and a person’s muscle health.

Calculated by dividing the weight in kilograms per height in meters in the square, the BMI can offer an idea of the health of a person, said Wajahat Mehal, MD, DPHil, director of the Metabolic Health and Weight Loss Program of Yale.

“The higher it is, the more likely it is that it will be associated with metabolic diseases,” he said Health.

But growing evidence suggest that BMI is a defective indicator because it does not take into account the age, biological sex or the distribution of fat and muscles.

For example, elite athletes often have a high lean muscle mass and high BMIs, according to Shiara Ortiz-Pujols, MD, MPH, director of medical obesity at the Northwell State University Hospital. “These athletes are healthy, but if the emphasis is only put on the BMI, they would be badly extended as having obesity,” she said Health.

On the other hand, some people with “normal” BMI may still have a higher risk of diabetes, hypertension and non -alcoholic liver disease, Arch Mainus, doctorate, main study and professor in the community of community health and family medicine at the University of Florida College of Medicine, said Health.

“These people are sometimes called” obesity of normal weight “or, colloquially,” lean fat “, he said.

With the limits of the BMI in mind, researchers from the University of Florida Health visited the strength of the force linked to mortality. They also wanted to know if the percentage of body fat – “an easy, reliable and inexpensive measurement of body composition”, they wrote – could better predict the risk of death.

The team analyzed health data of 4,252 adults aged 20 to 49. The data, collected between 1999 and 2004, included the size, the weight, the waist and the percentage of body fat (BF%). The researchers calculated the BMI and followed mortality until 2019 using death certificate files.

After adjusting for several factors, including age and race, scientists have concluded that:

• There is No significant link between one BRI classified as obese—Defini like 25 kg / m² or higher – and a higher risk of death of any cause compared to those with a “healthy” BMI.
• BF% offers an overview of the mortality risk. Those who have a high BF% at 27% or more for men and 44% or more for women – 78% more likely to die of any cause.
• The waist is less predictive than BF% but always associated with a higher risk of death.

According to Masenous, the study “shows that a direct measure of the percentage of body fat which is relatively inexpensive and easy to obtain in the office of a doctor is greater than predicting the risk of downstream mortality compared to the indirect measurement of body fat given by the BMI.”

However, research does not suggest that doctors should never use BMI, Said hand. It can always be used as a simple starting point to determine if a patient has to lose weight or take a lean muscle mass to prevent chronic diseases such as diabetes or heart disease. But that’s right, he said-“An easy first step.”

Ideally, Other measures must also be measured. “The more data points we use – BMI, size tower, body fat, blood pressure, blood cholesterol – the more we have a health image of patients,” said Mehal.

Modern machines that measure BF% using a bioelectric impedance analysis can produce results Less than a minute, The study authors wrote.

Hopes Mainoussals, more doctors will start to measure BF%. We owe focus on disease prevention, he said, and a direct measure of The percentage of body fat can help We do that.

“We now have representative evidence at the national level that a strategy to do so to a cheap and viable measure for the doctor’s office can do exactly that,” he said.