Underweight, overweight or healthy? Don't rely on BMI

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Mon, 27 Apr 2009 12:00a.m.

We are constantly being urged to keep healthy, and one of the quickest ways of calculating how healthy you are is your BMI - your body mass index.

It is a crude way of telling whether you are overweight.

But over the years the BMI has come in for some criticism for not telling the whole story.

Now, Massey University researchers have brought in some Space Age technology to determine whether your BNMI really matches how much fat you are carrying around.

Chrissy is a 25-year-old receptionist at a prestige motoring company, and part-time model who also runs who her own promo agency.

"I would say that I am pretty healthy," she says. "I am active, go walking after work every day and I eat my greens and my meat and don't have take outs, and I don't smoke, and I have a glass of wine with friends."

Jade is a 20-year-old accountancy student at university who is also a part-time model.

"I am quite the opposite to Chrissy, she says. "I do smoke, and I do drink two or three nights a week, and I have never done any exercise since I can remember, probably from first form when I was forced."

Chrissy and Jade have come to Massey University's Dr Rozanne Kruger to see if their body mass index accurately reflects their body fat.

First their BMI is calculated by taking height and weight measurements. Jade is shorter than Chrissy, but weighs almost the same. Her BMI is 20, within the healthy range, whilst Chrissy's is 18 – suggesting she is underweight.

The next step is calculating their body fat using Massey's new research tool - the 'bod pod'.

Dr Kruger is using it to conduct a study comparing how a woman's BMI stacks up against her body fat reading, and she has been inundated with volunteers.

"I just think most women are conscious of their health and their body, and we are bombarded everyday with messages and images of what is supposed to be healthy and how a healthy woman should look like," says Dr Kruger. "And everybody wants to know, am I healthy?"

But if you rely on the BMI, is it accurate? In Australia last week critics used the BMI to back claims 19-year-old Miss Universe Australia contestant Stephanie Naumoska was too skinny.

Her bmi was 16, in the malnourished category - she disagreed, claiming she was healthy.

"I've been tall and thin my whole life, and anybody who knows me knows that this is just the way my body is," she says. "I'm tall and I'm thin."

And relying on the BMI can make a mockery of being super fit. All Black Piri Weepu's BMI makes him overweight. Richie McCaw with a BMI of 30 is obese, and Tony Woodcock's BMI makes him almost morbidly obese.

Crazy of course, which is why Rozanne Kruger is doing the research. The bod pod measures the volume of air inside and compares that figure to when it is empty.

Chrissy follows computer prompts to breathe through a tube, which calculates the volume of air in her lungs. A formula somehow puts it all together and gives the result.

Her results suggest her percentage of body fat is 22.6 percent, slightly below the normal range for women – aligning with her BMI result.

"I thought that I would be healthy 'cause I feel that I am healthy 'cause I watch what I eat and things like that," she says. "So to find out I was a little bit on the leaner side as they said, I was okay with that. I think I am a small person."

Next up was Jade. Remember she has a BMI at the lower end of the normal range, but does not look after herself.

Her result was 26.9 percent, within the normal healthy range.

Jade seemed to feel that did not match her BMI.

"It was interesting to find out you know, that I did have a little bit of excess fat on me which is you know, good to know."

Dr Krugers' research will take into account diet and exercise but we won't know if there is a dramatic difference between the BMI readings and the bod pod until the findings are released later this year.

For jade though, the results already mean a change in lifestyle.

"My diet never used to concern me at all," says Jade. "What I ate, anything like that, fast food was an everyday kind of thing. Easy - you pop out to uni and grab a bite to eat. Now, definitely looking towards the healthier option."

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Comments

29 Apr 2009 12:48a.m.

jonathan, auckland wrote:

Just like a kilo of eggs weighs the same as a kilo of fat! let me put it a more simple way.If you had a 10 litre bucket of fat and a 10 litre bucket of muscle tissue.It would weigh 3 times more than the fat bucket would!DENSITY.
It is possible to loose weight but actually put on fat.If you dont use your muscles they will atrophy and shrink causing you to loose weight.I have seen people who have lost 10-15 kilos.The weight they have lost has been a combination of muscle loss,water and some fat.They look skin and bone!The idea is to conserve muscle mass via resistance training.The r/t encourages your body to burn fat as does fasting.If people have a muscular frame they are more lightly to weigh a lot more, hence 6 foot rugby backs weigh 75-100 kg on average,whereas
big muscular forwards weigh 100 to 120 kg or more and tend to be 5-11 to 6 foot six.Ali williams is an example of a big dood but not heavy with muscle.
The downside of all that muscle,is they are weighed down and are often called "Fatties".Ask a doctor if you do not believe me.Lomu actually became to big with muscle,more like a no8 and lost his speed as a result.Look at him in his younger days.Far lighter,built for speed.Lean and mean.I know,i was a prop! Body builders are the perfect example.I know one guy who is 5 foot 9 and weighs 105kg and 7%body fat.He is ripped.He would be obese under the bmi.cheers

28 Apr 2009 10:05a.m.

Tamasin wrote:

Muscle does not 'weigh' more than fat. 1 kilo of fat weighs the same as 1 kilo of muscle.
Muscle is simply denser therefore if two people weighed the same but one had more muscle mass, this person would take up less space.

28 Apr 2009 12:47a.m.

jonathan, auckland wrote:

your bmi does not take into account your lean body mass or fat mass.Muscle weighs 3 times as much as fat.Hence tony woodcock is obese.If you measured his body fat % you would find it was very good.Fat is non alive tissue,it does nothing except store toxins.Muscle is bilogically active burning calories all the time.Its your body fat percentage that counts.My friend is 6 foot 3 and well built.He is obese according to BMI.I have scales that measure your body fat percentage or you can use calipers via a personal trainer to measure your fat under the skin folds.Forget the BMI.