BMI May Not Accurately Indicate Bodily Health, Health Leaders Say.

reports on its website that “a growing body of research” suggests body mass index (BMI) may not be the most accurate measure of bodily health. According to one Mayo Clinic researcher, the metric “was a measurement created for epidemiology to give data that was relative and could be used in research” that later was adopted into federal recommendations by agencies such as the National Institutes of Health for physicians to use in assessing patient health as a “uniform standard.” The CDC calls BMI “a reasonable indicator of body fat” yet does not recommend health professionals or others use it as a diagnostic measure. Health leaders say that BMI does not distinguish between muscle and fat, “can also underestimate the threat for people who are ‘skinny fat’” – a term denoting athletic patients with larger stomachs, and does not consider factors such as age, race, and sex. http://us.cnn.com/2017/08/16/health/bmi-measure-fat-questions/index.html