Lower BMI Cut Points Warranted in People of Non-European Descent
New research shows that South Asian, North American aboriginal, and Chinese ethnicity may be associated with glucose, blood-pressure, and lipid abnormalities at BMIs much lower than the cut points widely in use. A BMI of 25 may not be normal in certain groups, researchers say.
Source:Heartwire: Shelley Wood
This study, conducted in Canada, included people of Chinese and South Asian descent, and a group the study calls “aboriginal peoples”. I think this is the term Canadian’s use for what we Americans would call “Native Americans”. It didn’t seem to include people of African descent.
One very interesting point. Commenting on the findings of their study, the investigators suggest that BMI be dropped as a method to identify health risks. The method doesn’t apply consistently to different ethnic groups underpredicting risks for some and over predicting for others.
Guess what they’d use to replace BMI? They’d measure waist circumference! Because it’s belly fat that seems to raise our risk of obesity related diseases.
(Want to see if your waist circumference puts you at risk? Try my belly fat risk calculator! 
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I know my belly is fat. I’ll skip the calculator!
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Kathryn Brooks - April 20th, 2007 at 5:16 pmHi I am getting a 404 error message on the belly fat calculator. Thought you would like to know. Interesting Info
Peter (1 comments.) - April 20th, 2007 at 5:28 pmI totally agree. Body Mass INdex (BMI) has been used for a long time, but people are beginning to realize that it is a poor measure of health. I am 6 feet tall and weigh 195. My BMI is 26.4 which classifies me as overweight. My last bodyfat measurement about a month ago was 8.2%.
Core Trainer (3 comments.) - May 7th, 2007 at 6:51 pmthe problem with BMI is that it doesn’t account for body composition. According to BMI most bodybuilders would fall into the obese category which they obviously are not.