What’s a healthy weight for your height? Use this calculator to find out.
In the United States, we use body mass index (BMI) to determine if our clients weight is putting them at risk for cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and other medical conditions. However, a new study, presented at the European Obesity Conference, found that the waist-to-height ratio was more likely to ID risk for heart disease than BMI. That’s because the tool measures excess body fat where it’s most harmful–in the belly.
Researchers analyzed data from 2,917 participants in the Health Survey for England. Among the subjects, 41% of men and 29% of women classified as “normal” by BMI measurements had waist-to-height ratios above normal, suggesting that 12% of the total population would be misclassified by using BMI measurement instead of waist-to-height ratio.
Researchers classified the study participants into four groups using standard boundary values of BMI (above or below 25 kg/m2) and waist-to-height ratio (above or below 0.5). The group with low or average BMI but a high waist-to-height ratio had higher total cholesterol and blood sugar levels.
According to the researchers: “This study not only supports our previous findings on the superiority of [waist-to-height ratio] over BMI as a primary screening method for morbidity and mortality risk, but also demonstrates the potentially severe implications of misclassification by BMI alone in screening for cardiometabolic risk factors.”
Reference:
Gibson S. Poster T7:PO.052. Presented at: European Congress on Obesity; May 6-9, 2015; Prague.
