Buzz
Since the introduction of Body Mass Index (BMI) by Dr. Ancel Keys in 1972, simply calculated by dividing weight by height squared, it has been widely used to measure the risk of overweight for everyone. Many places even use this index to assess eligibility for life insurance contracts. Or it is also used to assess the risk of complications during surgery (often due to being overweight or underweight)...
The classic BMI indexHowever, many places have now ceased using this index to confirm whether someone is overweight, especially in obesity treatment centers. Recently, the American Medical Association (AMA) has also revised its stance, citing numerous limitations of BMI and its unsuitability for the current era. Previously, the majority of data collected were from groups of people of Latin and Spanish descent. Therefore, it does not accurately represent the distribution of fat in the general population, which is highly diverse. Consequently, applying an index that does not represent individuals from different ethnicities will lead to discrepancies.In the United States, many places not only use BMI but also incorporate additional evaluation indices and consider the time doctors spend consulting with patients to determine if they are obese. Determining obesity in an individual relies on many other complex parameters rather than simply dividing weight by height squared as BMI does. It is evident that some individuals have high BMI scores but exhibit no symptoms of common diseases associated with weight, such as hypertension, sleep apnea, or type 2 diabetes. Conversely, individuals with metabolic disorders often weigh below the BMI standard. Furthermore, BMI fails to account for fat distribution across the body, which has long been an indicator of disease risk. For instance, having excess fat in areas like the thighs or buttocks poses minimal concern, whereas fat accumulation around the abdomen or internal organs presents a different scenario.
Adjusted BMI metrics for AsiansAs for the physique and body condition of Asians, we currently use BMI, but in a different version from the general WHO version as it incorporates additional parameters from the Asian Diabetes Association with the World Health Organization Western Pacific Regional Office (IDI&WPRO). You can refer to it above.All in all, we can't simply discard BMI yet, as it remains a very simple calculation method and provides easily understandable metrics for the majority of the population. Because everyone wants to be accurately diagnosed and prescribed the right medication, it may be used in conjunction with other assessments in the future to determine obesity risk.
