The Body Mass Index (BMI) is a measure of body fat that is used by the medical profession to determine a person’s weight in regard to the height.
BMI applies to adult men and women and assesses whether people are underweight, of a healthy weight, overweight or clinically obese.
Why does BMI matter?
People who are classed as clinically obese possess a greater risk of developing diabetes, as well as cardiovascular diseases, cancer and suffering a stroke
You can use the BMI tool to tell how healthy your weight is for your height, however, BMI has its drawbacks and arguments have been made against it.
Guide to BMI
Explore BMI; from why it’s important to how to take your waist circumference in order to calculate your BMI.
Is BMI a true measure of my health?
Body fat is not taken into account when compared to muscle content, so a tall athlete in excellent physical condition may have a higher BMI than someone who is overweight.
BMI is also no indication of general fitness or health, with another criticism aimed at BMI readings that age is not taken into consideration.
