Changes to the classic BMI measurement system could see millions of people reclassified as 'obese'. A coalition of experts from the European Association for the Study of Obesity have called for an overhaul, which would target those classified as being a 'healthy weight'.
The experts want to see changes to the system, which is used by the NHS, in the hope it would allow people to get obesity treatments they were currently missing out. The reform would specifically focus on abdominal fat, which wraps around vital organs.
Abdominal fat is considered more dangerous for a person’s overall health and well-being than subcutaneous fat, which sits just beneath the skin. It has been linked to a higher risk of heart disease, diabetes, stroke, dementia and certain cancers.
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People can currently have high levels of abdominal fat while being well under the BMI threshold for obesity. The current BMI system looks at a person’s weight and divides it by the square of their height.
However the new framework would lower the threshold of the obesity label on the current system, while taking into account a waist-to-height ratio and the presence of weight-related complications, such as high blood pressure and diabetes. The proposed changes have now been published in the Nature Medicine journal, which read: “The basis for this change is the recognition that BMI alone is insufficient as a diagnostic criterion, and that body fat distribution has a substantial effect on health.”
This isn’t the first time there have been calls for the BMI system to be overhauled. Many experts have pointed out that the current system was incapable of differentiating between fat and muscle mass.
