Enlarge / Youngsters checking their weight. (credit score: Getty | BSIP)
Youngsters and youths with a excessive physique mass index (BMI) have been 29 instances extra more likely to have a excessive fats mass index in contrast with youths who had decrease BMIs, making the controversial metric a “excellent screening software,” in response to a examine printed Monday within the journal Pediatrics.
The examine provides to the long-standing debate about using BMI, which has at all times been an imperfect proxy for assessing an individual’s physique fats, aka adiposity. Final 12 months, the American Medical Affiliation adopted a strongly worded coverage calling out the calculation’s “vital limitations” and “historic harms,” together with “racist exclusion,” as a result of its use is essentially based mostly on white populations. However different consultants have pushed again, arguing that the maligned metric continues to be a fast, low-cost, software for assessing the well being and dangers of sufferers.
BMI, calculated by dividing an individual’s weight in kilograms by their top in meters squared, has lengthy been used as a shorthand approach of assessing an individual’s adiposity. In youngsters, excessive BMIs are related to heart problems dangers later in life. However, the metric will also be deceptive. As a result of it’s based mostly solely on weight and top, it doesn’t distinguish between fats and lean mass. As such, athletes with comparatively giant quantities of lean muscle mass can simply have BMIs that put them within the classes of getting obese or weight problems, whereas these with little lean mass however excessive fats mass can nonetheless have BMIs in a standard vary. BMI additionally doesn’t inform clinicians something about physique fats distribution, which might be vital for well being dangers. And analysis has discovered that the connection between BMI and adiposity can differ by race and ethnicity. For example, on the identical BMI, Black youngsters are likely to have much less adiposity than white youngsters.
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