Are you done with body shaming at the doctor’s office? For me, I’ve always struggled with weight. Especially being a 5’2″ female, I always felt like my healthy weight according to the body mass index (BMI) was unrealistic and unattainable for my build. But, I’ve always been healthy with no indication of disease like high blood pressure or high cholesterol. It never really made sense to me. Now, a new way to measure health has entered the medical scene and it’s called the body roundness index (BRI). Here we’ll discuss why body roundness index may be better than BMI and what you can expect at your next doctor’s appointment.
1. BMI Is Problematic
Body mass index was developed in 1832 by a Belgian mathematician called LAJ Quetelet. No wonder the calculation seems antiquated! There are several issues with BMI being used as a predictor of health risks. First, only height and weight are accounted for. Someone who is 6′ tall could be the same weight as someone who is 5’3″ tall, and only the shorter person will deemed overweight or obese. Additionally, BMI would categorize many athletes as being overweight. As you may know, muscle weighs more than fat.
2. BMI Doesn’t Account for Age
BMI only uses height and weight to calculate health. Both age and sex are incredibly important to consider when determining a healthy weight. Especially for children and teenagers, the World Health Organization has developed an additional growth scale to accompany BMI. Children’s and teen’s weight are categorized using percentiles and not the standard BMI numbers. Essentially, using BMI someone who is 20 years old is being compared to someone who is 75 years old with no distinction.
3. BRI Uses Waist Circumference
If a doctor is measuring your BRI, you most likely will be measured with a measuring tape around your midsection and hips. It is then calculated using your height and weight. Current data shows that holding visceral fat in this area puts us at the most risk for disease now and in the future. By looking at body fat distribution, doctors can get a better picture of overall health. This is problematic because older adults typically lose muscle mass, so an overweight BMI in someone who is older may actually be healthier
4. BRI Eliminates Healthy Obesity
One major criticism of BMI is that many people fall into the ‘healthy obesity’ category. Where although a person’s BMI is over the normal range, they are in fact healthy. For me, this has always been the case. This can be problematic when BMI alone is used as a precursor for approval for surgeries or procedures and overall health is not considered. BRI eliminates this category and instead calculates risk factors on more concrete data.
5. BRI Accounts for Female Body Composition
BRI distinguishes between men and women. Typically, women tend to have a higher BRI value compared to men. Especially if women have had children or are menopausal. Essentially, a higher BRI value is considered normal for women than for men. So, essentially don’t be afraid if you have a midsection ladies, your BRI will be adjusted.
6. Neither Factor in Important Data
Both body mass index and body roundness index ignore things like health history, ethnicity, and race. These attributes are important to gaining a clearer picture of your health. For example, people of Asian or Middle Eastern descent may be at high risk of metabolic diseases like diabetes even with lower BMIs or BRIs. Are these numbers too simplistic?
Will BRI Replace BMI?
So, will your doctor calculate your BRI at your next visit? It may be too soon to tell if BRI will replace BMI universally. To be fair, BMI only became popular in the mid-20th century with actuaries. Actuaries wanted to describe populations to determine things like risk and life insurance coverage. Today, some doctors write off patients with a higher or lower BMI as needing to gain or lose weight to improve their health. Instead, we need to push for a more robust way to calculate health. BRI might be a step in the right direction. What do you think?