When we want to know whether we have a healthy body weight, we often look at our BMI. NU.nl readers wondered how useful that is. Your BMI gives a good indication, but does not say everything about your health, experts tell NU.nl.
The Body Mass Index (BMI) shows whether you have a healthy weight in relation to your height. But it is not tailor-made, because the method does not take gender and age into account, for example.
“It is a good indication for an average person, but often also gives a distorted picture,” says Evelyne Mertens, dietician and scientific researcher at the Faculty of Medicine at KU Leuven. “BMI does not take fat, muscle and fluid mass into account.”
For example, the BMI for the elderly often does not apply. “They tend to have lower muscle mass and higher water mass.” BMI is also not always a good indicator for athletes. They generally have a lot of muscle and therefore automatically have a higher BMI. But that does not necessarily have to be unhealthy.
Pregnant and breastfeeding women are also of little benefit to the measuring method. This is because both the body weight and body composition of women change during that period. People with an Asian background cannot rely entirely on BMI. They generally have a higher fat mass than people with a Western background, it writes Nutrition Center. As a result, they are at greater risk of cardiovascular disease, among other things, even though they have a comparable BMI.
This is why ‘race’ and ethnicity are irrelevant in healthcare
Science has agreed for years that there are no different races among humans. But important healthcare institutions still use the term ‘race’ in manuals and guidelines, according to research by NU.nl.
“Race is a invented concept, but is sometimes presented in healthcare as a biological fact,” says Judith Venderbos, researcher into social inequality at the national expertise center Pharos. “That is incorrect and contributes to health disparities.”
BMI results
- Below 18.5: underweight
- 18.5 to 25: healthy weight
- 25 to 30: overweight
- 30 or higher: seriously overweight (obesity)
You can calculate your BMI yourself by dividing your weight (in kilos) by the square of your body height (in meters). For someone who weighs 65 kilos and is 1.70 meters tall, this is the calculation: 65/(1.70×1.70)=22.5.
Source: Nutrition Center
Combination with waist circumference or fat percentage offers better results
“BMI in combination with waist circumference is actually the best indicator,” says GP Stefan van Rooijen. “We know from the latest science that fat around the abdomen is more harmful than in other places in your body. This is because that is where the vital organs are located. And you don’t want fatty liver disease, for example, because then your liver and glucose metabolism will work less well.”
Mertens not only pays attention to her clients’ weight and height, but also to a person’s lifestyle. “To what extent does someone exercise and eat healthily?” She does not rely solely on BMI. General practitioner Van Rooijen also emphasizes the importance of a healthy lifestyle. According to him, there is nothing wrong with working on this yourself first. Are you unable to achieve a healthy weight independently? Then it is wise to sound the alarm to your GP or dietitian.
“Especially with a BMI above 30, you should see a professional, because you can expect immediate health damage, such as cardiovascular disease. This also applies to obesity in the long term. People can then suffer from high blood pressure or diabetes. The waist size is also important, because you don’t want to have too much fat there.”
Belly circumference meter
Men:
- Smaller than 94 cm: healthy
- 94 to 102 cm: raised
- From 102 cm: too high
- Smaller than 80 cm: healthy
- 80 to 88 cm: raised
- From 88 cm: too high
Source: Nutrition Center
How do I know if I have a healthy weight?
On, among other things, the website of the Nutrition center you can determine your BMI yourself. For most people this is a good indication. Moreover, you can measure your waist circumference quite easily yourself, Van Rooijen explains. This can easily be done with a home-garden-and-kitchen measuring tape. “You place the measuring tape around the waist, between the lower rib and your hip bones. That is approximately at the level of your belly button. Exhale so that you relax your stomach. And make sure you do not tighten the measuring tape too much.”
Mertens recommends also having your fat, muscle and fluid mass measured. There are special scales that measure this effectively, she explains. You often find these scales in the gym, at the physiotherapist and at the dietitian. What a healthy fat percentage depends on your age and gender. For men this percentage is between 7 and 25 percent, for women between 21 and 36 percent.
“But it is also a bit of common sense,” says Mertens. “If you exercise a lot and see that your muscle mass is large for your age, then it is logical that your BMI will be higher than average.”
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2024-03-05 19:07:08
#BMI #health #NU.nl
