Health & Medicine
Your BMI is a Lie: Calculator that Measures Weight Inaccurate
Catherine Griffin
First Posted: Jan 23, 2013 12:28 PM EST
You may be thinner--or fatter--than you thought. Researchers at Oxford University have found that the traditional method of calculating body mass index is inaccurate. That means that there are quite a few doctors that need to change their ways.
The current equation used to calculate BMI apparently doesn't take into account that a person's weight tends to grow with their height; it divides the weight by too large a number for short people and too small a number for tall people. That means that shorter people are misled into thinking that they are thinner than they are, while tall people are led to believe that they are fatter.
Doctors usually use BMI to determine if a person is overweight or obese. A BMI between 18.5 and 24.9 is normal, while less than 18.5 is underweight and 25 to 29.9 is overweight. A BMI of 30 over above, though, means that the person is obese. The index was first developed by Belgian scientist Adolphe Quetelet in the 1830s, who admitted that there were potential flaws with the system. An individual's situation should always be taken into consideration rather than using sweeping numbers to label a person as fat or thin.
Fortunately, the equation is being corrected. Nick Trefethen, a leading mathematician at Oxford University, has developed a new formula to calculate BMI. And for those who are curious as to whether or not their BMI has changed with this new equation, they can find out with the new calculator that Trefethen has created for public use. Check it out here.
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First Posted: Jan 23, 2013 12:28 PM EST
You may be thinner--or fatter--than you thought. Researchers at Oxford University have found that the traditional method of calculating body mass index is inaccurate. That means that there are quite a few doctors that need to change their ways.
The current equation used to calculate BMI apparently doesn't take into account that a person's weight tends to grow with their height; it divides the weight by too large a number for short people and too small a number for tall people. That means that shorter people are misled into thinking that they are thinner than they are, while tall people are led to believe that they are fatter.
Doctors usually use BMI to determine if a person is overweight or obese. A BMI between 18.5 and 24.9 is normal, while less than 18.5 is underweight and 25 to 29.9 is overweight. A BMI of 30 over above, though, means that the person is obese. The index was first developed by Belgian scientist Adolphe Quetelet in the 1830s, who admitted that there were potential flaws with the system. An individual's situation should always be taken into consideration rather than using sweeping numbers to label a person as fat or thin.
Fortunately, the equation is being corrected. Nick Trefethen, a leading mathematician at Oxford University, has developed a new formula to calculate BMI. And for those who are curious as to whether or not their BMI has changed with this new equation, they can find out with the new calculator that Trefethen has created for public use. Check it out here.
See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone