"Are you Asian American" Get Screened for Diabetes if Your BMI is over 23!" article discussion Topic


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BMI isn't accurate. There are plenty of athletes that are in the "obese" BMI category simply because of their weight.


Hi Justjennie, BMI works very well for health risk assessment for most of the population. However, BMI is not a good tool for the extremes of lean body mass:
On the low end of lean body mass: frail elderly
On the high end of lean body mass: athletes and those whose work is heavy manual labor

When I work with power lifters, firefighters, athletes, etc, I don't rely on BMI. An accurate assessment of body fat (Bod Pod, Underwater weighing, DEXA, etc) is a better method to use for assessing weight goals. Also, an easy quick check for a high BMI at a screening event is to also check waist measurement. Muscular/fit people with a higher weight but who do not have an elevated body fat % typically have trim waist sizes (men < 40 in, women < 35 in).

Also note that even large muscular fit men can be overfat. Consider the sumo wrestler. Their BMI might be falsely inflated by high lean body mass, but it is also caused by a high body fat as well.

Best,
Kathy Isacks, MPS, RD, CDE

"Are you Asian American" Get Screened for Diabetes if Your BMI is over 23!" article discussion