What does BMI tell a doctor or physician?

“BMI is a calculation that uses a person's height and weight to produce a number that assesses their weight category and whether they are at greater risk for disease, such as heart problems and diabetes,” said Samuel Saltz, DO, a bariatric surgeon at Banner Health Center in Fort Collins, CO.

What does BMI tell a doctor?

Body Mass Index (BMI) is a person's weight in kilograms (or pounds) divided by the square of height in meters (or feet). A high BMI can indicate high body fatness. BMI screens for weight categories that may lead to health problems, but it does not diagnose the body fatness or health of an individual.

What does BMI tell you about your health?

In general, the higher the number, the more body fat a person has. BMI is often used to determine if your weight might be putting you at risk for health problems such as heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. BMI is calculated by dividing a person's weight in kilograms by the square of their height in meters.

Do doctors go by BMI?

Medical experts rely on BMI because it is simple, cheap, and generally accurate. At times, however, the index misclassifies patients because it does not distinguish fat from muscle.

Is BMI an accurate representation of health?

As a single measure, BMI is clearly not a perfect measure of health. But it's still a useful starting point for important conditions that become more likely when a person is overweight or obese.

What BMI doesn't tell you about your health

Why do doctors rely on BMI?

BMI is a reasonable indicator of body fat for both adults and children. Because BMI does not measure body fat directly, it should not be used as a diagnostic tool. Instead, BMI should be used as a measure to track weight status in populations and as a screening tool to identify potential weight problems in individuals.

Why do doctors use BMI if it's inaccurate?

“It's two numbers — weight and height — so anyone can get their [BMI] number without training,” she says. And because it's so quick, cheap, and anyone can do it, it's an obvious choice for researchers on the hunt for data.

Does BMI actually matter?

Is BMI an accurate assessment of my health? Yes and no. BMI is a useful tool for healthcare professionals to quickly identify health risks—for example, a person with a high BMI has a greater chance of developing cardiovascular disease and diabetes—but your BMI alone doesn't provide a detailed picture of your health.

Should you take BMI seriously?

BMI is not an accurate predictor of health because it does not account for body fat percentage or body fat distribution. In addition, BMI cannot accurately predict the health of different demographics and races because it was created with data from only white Europeans.

What BMI do they hospitalize?

for hospitalization:

BMI < 13 is an indicatior for certification under the Mental Health Act if the patient refuses admission although BMI < 13 alone is not enough for admission.

Can you have a normal BMI and still be unhealthy?

Your activity level: Someone who is very inactive may have a BMI in the normal range and have lots of body fat, though they may not look out of shape. "They have very low levels of muscle and bone -- often elderly people, those in poor shape, sometimes those who are sick.

What BMI causes health problems?

*Overweight is defined as a body mass index (BMI) of 25 or higher. Obesity is defined as a BMI of 30 or higher. See the BMI calculator for people 20 years and older and the BMI calculator for people ages 2 through 19. Want to learn more?

Why does my BMI say I'm overweight when I'm not?

BMI doesn't account for body composition, which means it misses the difference between muscle mass and fat. Because muscles are more dense and heavier than fat, bodybuilders and other professional athletes like football players are often considered obese or overweight based on their BMI alone.

What is a better indicator than BMI?

Overall, no matter what you use instead of BMI , “body fat percentage tends to be a much better indicator of health status and health risk than BMI,” says Dugas. Research shows that waist circumference, for example, can often tell you more about your risk of high blood pressure and high blood sugar than BMI.

Can BMI be misleading?

BMI (body mass index), which is based on the height and weight of a person, is an inaccurate measure of body fat content and does not take into account muscle mass, bone density, overall body composition, and racial and sex differences, say researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania.

Is BMI more important than weight?

Answer: BMI is more helpful than weight in assessing degree of overweight. BMI is a measure of weight for height. It stands for body mass index.

Does age affect BMI?

Research has shown that BMI increases with age (Ogden et al., 2006; Sakamoto, 2006).

What are the pros and cons of BMI?

How can I lower my BMI fast?

What is the perfect BMI for female?

between 18.5 and 24.9 – you're in the healthy weight range. between 25 and 29.9 – you're in the overweight range. 30 or over – you're in the obese range.

What are 3 health risks associated with BMI?

Body Mass Index (BMI)

The higher your BMI, the higher your risk for certain diseases such as heart disease, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, gallstones, breathing problems, and certain cancers.

What diseases make you gain weight?

Why is my BMI healthy but Im fat?

The limitation of BMI is that this measurement does not distinguish fat from muscle. According to some research, more than half of Americans have a normal BMI but a high body fat percentage, which is known as normal weight obesity.