What is the body mass index?

October 21, 9:08 PMTampa Pilates ExaminerAstrid Bidanec

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Compare the BMI of Stallone, Richie, Huckabee and Sharapova

Photo courtesy of Hairweightloss.info

In light of the National Combat Obesity campaign, the body mass index (BMI) has become a buzz phrase. All mysteries aside, the BMI is not a diagnostic tool for obesity. It does, however, indicate how much body fat a person carries around.

Of course there are many different body types as evident when comparing the BMI's of movie star, Sylvester Stallone (30.1), socialite Nicole Richie (16.1), Governor Mike Huckabee (23.7), and professional tennis star, Maria Sharapova (16.7).

The BMI is calculated by dividing a person's weight by his height in meters squared. For your convenience the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) makes two online BMI calculators available for adults and children up to teens respectively. Numbers do not lie and in that sense the BMI eliminates common excuses for being over-weight such as having a heavy bone structure and other fairy tales.

That does not mean that this method is fool-proof in determining the amount of body fat for everyone. The CDC clearly states that the "correlation varies by sex, race, and age." Professional athletes may also have misleading BMI's since muscles weigh more than fat.

A BMI of 18.5- 24.9 is considered normal. Anything below is under-weight and naturally a BMI of 25 and higher is considered over-weight and obese at 30 and above.

If you think the BMI was created to make people feel bad about themselves, think again. It actually helps save people's lives by indicating the risk for diseases and health conditions such as hypertension, dyslipidemia, type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, some cancers, osteoarthritis, stroke, gallbladder disease, sleep apnea and respiratory problems. All these are so-called side effects of unhealthy nutrition and excessive body weight, which makes it impossible for any human immune and cardiological system to perform effectively.

Think of your BMI as guard-rails on your highway of a healthy life and check it periodically.