BMI not a useful statistic?

Quantified Self Diet, Nutrition, and Weight
1

The BMI statistic has been promoted as an indicator a person’s general health. I see it displayed in the Apple Health app on my iPhone/iPad. The UK’s NHS, for example, says this on its website

The body mass index (BMI) is a measure that uses your height and weight to work out if your weight is healthy.

The same message appears in various NHS documents and also in material from other organisations.

However, this piece in today’s Guardian suggests that BMI is not a useful personal statistic!

One opinion, from the research cited, is that BMI is really only useful at the population level and that there are better more informative and appropriate metrics that assess an individual’s general health. Should we as QS people be bothered about tracking our BMI any more?

2

Does anyone here still do that? We have moved on to DEXA scans :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

1 Like
3

Others here on QS might not but the UK’s National Health Service’s web site has numerous pages on BMI. Apple’s Health app calculates it.

Looking at the NHS web site again they only mention those in the context of bone density.

4

Still need a body weight metric even if its not so important.

5

Scientifically, waist-to-hip ratio is used, because it is a reasonable predictor of later health outcomes.
BMI is misleading, particularly when you are packed with muscle, because it doesn’t differentiate between fat and muscle.