A call for all health agencies to use a different way of measuring body mass and BMI that would mean that for example the amount of people in Scotland who are obese would rise by 260,000. The proposal put forward in the UK by its Cheif Medical Officer said that the usual way of calculating obesity using the Body Mass Index (BMI) is not good enough and sometimes fails to find the people who are in danger of suffering from cardio disease and diabetes. He said that by using a waist measurement the figures would be more accurate and that many more Scottish people would be seen to be obese.

The way the Body Mass Index works is by calculating the ration of a person’s height using a metric scale of metres and their weight in kilos. To work out your BMI you must take you height and square it and then weigh yourself and divide your mass by the square of your height. So for example if you are 1.8metres and you weigh 80 kilos you multiply the 1.8x1.8 = 3.24 and then divide your weight (80kilos) by the figure 3.24 which comes to 24.69 or 25 to round it off. The problem with this formula is that a well-built man of 1.8 metres could easily weigh 80 kilos and not be overweight but using the BMI index he would be classified as overweight.

BMI’s big failing as a method for weight calculation is that it ban distinguish between muscle and fat and thus a strong man can be identified as fat instead of well built and healthy. The best way of measuring according to Dr Burns is that men and women should get a tape measure for their waist measurement and if they are above 40 inches for a man and 35 inches for a woman then they should seriously consider losing weight and getting exercise and diet in their daily routines.

At present the figures for obesity in the UK are that 22% of men are obese but with the tape measure obesity test the figure would rise to over 25%. For women the BMI figure for obesity is 24% but this would be over 30% if they took to using the tape measure too.
Ukmedix is aware that heart disease is the biggest reason for death in the United Kingdom and is said to be responsible for one third of all death in the UK. It may be that the time to stop relying purely on a BMI test for obesity is due and start using a waist measurement for a more accurate reading of fat content and obesity.