What is BMI and to Use it
While it doesn’t calculate fat percentage, the Body Mass Index is an indicator if you are overweight and could be subject to health issues. Unless you are a muscular athlete or a child, the BMI is a standard tool for accessing health risks. Body mass index is a way of describing height and weight in one number that can help tell if someone’s weight is healthy or not.
Why it Matters
The higher your BMI, the higher the risk of developing a range of conditions linked with excess weight, including:
- diabetes
- arthritis
- liver disease
- several types of cancer (such as those of the breast, colon, and prostate)
- high blood pressure (hypertension)
- high cholesterol
- sleep apnea
- heart disease
- stroke
- high blood pressure
- gallbladder disease
- premature death
- osteoarthritis and joint disease
Why it May Not Matter
It’s important to recognize that BMI itself does not measure your health or physiological state that indicates the presence (or absence) of disease. It simply measures your size. Plenty of people have a high or low BMI and are healthy and plenty of people with a normal BMI are unhealthy.
