Researchers in Italy compared the tool to scans which provide an analysis of fat, muscle and bone in the body
The Body Mass Index (BMI) system may be misdiagnosing people as overweight or obese, according to a study.
Researchers in Italy compared the tool – which measures body fat based on height and weight – to scans providing an analysis of fat, muscle, and bone.
The study, published in the journal Nutrients, involved 1,351 adults referred to the University of Verona’s Department of Neurosciences, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences.
Yeah, it never gets explained in these headlines that the BMI isn’t a sole indicator of health. It is (or is supposed to be) used alongside professional evaluation to determine an individuals physical condition. Something else to consider: both a 300lb bodybuilder and a 300lb average american fall into the same category for risks of things like heart attacks and knee/back injury. Physics trumps muscle mass so the BMI is a useful risk indicator regardless of subjective ‘healthiness’.
It was never meant to be used for any individual anywhere under any conditions…
It was meant to be used on a population, height/weight were already collected metrics and you could run everyone (or just a sample) thru the formula and get a pretty accurate picture of the health of the population.
If you’re looking at the population the formula was designed for. Which is Dutch men in the mid 1800s…
It’s better than nothing, but it’s not even the best formula that only uses height/weight.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corpulence_index
And that was actually designed to be accurate on an individual level
That has nothing to do with fitness and especially not obesity.
There a reason a Great Dane doesn’t live as long as a 10lb lap dog…
It’s not even injury either, just the biomechanics it for joint and the physics of having to pump blood higher.