The body mass index is no longer sufficient to diagnose obesity and can lead to incorrect assessment after measurements, according to the clinic committee Obesity of The Lancet magazine.
The Commission is a new differentiated approach, where body fat measurements, as well as symptoms of poor health at the individual level, will be used in addition to the BMI to detect obesity.
Today obesity is defined by BMI: It is considered that BMI more than 30 kg/m2 is an obesity indicator for people of European descent. However, scientists point out that the current diagnostic approach is prone to incorrect classification of excessive body fat and incorrect diagnosis of the disease. Although BMI is a useful indicator, the Commission stresses that it is not a direct way to measure fat, does not reflect its distribution throughout the body and does not provide information on health and diseases at the individual level.
“Some people tend to store excessive fat in the middle or in and around their organs, such as the liver, heart or muscles, and this is associated with a higher health risk than when excessive fat is stored just below the skin in hands, feet or other areas of the body,” Evel.
The Commission recommends that at least one measure of body size are made (waist circumference, waist to hips, average to height) with the BMI, at least two measurements of body size regardless of the BMI, as well as direct body fat measurement regardless of the BMI.
In addition, the scientific team introduces two new diagnostic categories of obesity based on objective measurements of the disease at the individual level. This is the “clinical obesity”, that is, chronic disease associated with continuing organ dysfunction and is due only to obesity but also to ‘Preclinical obesity’ associated with a variable level of risk for health, but without current disease.
It is estimated that more than one billion people in the world live with obesity and the committee with its recommendations calls for a universal definition of obesity and a more accurate method for diagnosing it.
Commission findings were published in the magazine «The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology».