Key TakeawaysA new study finds that BMI measurement cutoffs to assess certain health risks weren’t accurate for people who aren’t White.BMI cutoffs should be lower for many non-White people.The measurement is an imperfect indicator of health.

Key Takeaways

A new study finds that BMI measurement cutoffs to assess certain health risks weren’t accurate for people who aren’t White.BMI cutoffs should be lower for many non-White people.The measurement is an imperfect indicator of health.

A new study suggests thatbody mass index (BMI) measurementswidely used to assess health risks such as obesity and diabetes are not an accurate method for non-White people.

Researchers examined data from over 1.4 million people in England between 1990 and 2018 and, through statistical analysis, distinguished patterns according to the participants’ race and ethnicity.

They found that the current standard BMI cutoffs used to assess some threats to health should be much lower for non-White populations.

These findings suggest that a “one-size-fits-all” cutoff doesn’t actually work for everybody. Researchers are hopeful these findings will encourage revision of BMI cutoffs based on more precise data, and help better cater to the needs of different populations.

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The study was published last week inThe Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinologyjournal.

BMI Cutoffs Aren’t Accurate For All

The researchers closely examined a dataset recording BMI and type 2 diabetes for 1,472,819 people. They included White, South Asian, Black, Chinese, and Arab people in their data. Typically, people with a BMI of 30 and above are thought to be more at risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

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They found, however, that the BMI cutoffs for type 2 diabetes were actually:

“The key thing here is that people from these ethnic minority communities will have assumed that they are okay in terms of theirweightstatus, and possibly not gone to seek advice, because their primary care provider has not thought that they’re in the range for it, because we have cutoffs,” Caleyachetty says.

What This Means For YouBMI measurements are an imperfect measurement, so you shouldn’t use it as the ultimate indicator of your health. If you’re concerned about your risk for developing certain conditions like type 2 diabetes, talk to a doctor about how you can proactively reduce that risk.

What This Means For You

BMI measurements are an imperfect measurement, so you shouldn’t use it as the ultimate indicator of your health. If you’re concerned about your risk for developing certain conditions like type 2 diabetes, talk to a doctor about how you can proactively reduce that risk.

Adjustments Are Needed

“This is a great retrospective review of clinical data,”Jerry Bailey,clinical director at Lakeside Holistic Health, who was not involved with the study, tells Verywell. “While this is a first step to just look at BMI as an indicator of disease occurrence, it opens the door to really start speaking about the lack of diversity in health-related measures.”

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“As the research noted this will allow better overall post-diagnosis management of lifestyle diseases,” Bailey adds. “It also allows us to initiate preventative care earlier versus watching and waiting until the disease shows up. The ‘ounce of prevention equals a pound of cure’ really is demonstrated here.”

Although a World Health Organization expert consultation recommended that a BMI of 27.5 or above for South Asians and Chinese should trigger action to prevent type two diabetes,that’s still too approximate according to Caleyachetty.

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“That value was based on a small number of studies which didn’t even include South Asian people from an Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi background. It didn’t include Black African, Black Caribbean, Arabs as well,” Caleyachetty says. “So it was based on very limited evidence.”

It’s still unclear exactly why the correlation between BMI and type 2 diabetes is different between different population slices, but it’s probably a combination of:

More research is needed to better understand this, Caleyachetty says.

In general, researchers from different areas of study are working towards perfecting the concept of BMI overall. “There’s a lot of debate about BMI, whether it’s a good measure or a bad measure. It is an imperfect measure,” Caleyachetty says. “And in time I suspect that it may be improved upon.”

2 SourcesVerywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Caleyachetty R, Barber TM, Mohammed NI, et al.Ethnicity-specific BMI cutoffs for obesity based on type 2 diabetes risk in England: a population-based cohort study.Lancet Diabetes Endocrinol. doi:10.1016/S2213-8587(21)00088-7WHO Expert Consultation.Appropriate body-mass index for Asian populations and its implications for policy and intervention strategies.Lancet. 363(9403):157-163. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(03)15268-3

2 Sources

Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Caleyachetty R, Barber TM, Mohammed NI, et al.Ethnicity-specific BMI cutoffs for obesity based on type 2 diabetes risk in England: a population-based cohort study.Lancet Diabetes Endocrinol. doi:10.1016/S2213-8587(21)00088-7WHO Expert Consultation.Appropriate body-mass index for Asian populations and its implications for policy and intervention strategies.Lancet. 363(9403):157-163. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(03)15268-3

Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

Caleyachetty R, Barber TM, Mohammed NI, et al.Ethnicity-specific BMI cutoffs for obesity based on type 2 diabetes risk in England: a population-based cohort study.Lancet Diabetes Endocrinol. doi:10.1016/S2213-8587(21)00088-7WHO Expert Consultation.Appropriate body-mass index for Asian populations and its implications for policy and intervention strategies.Lancet. 363(9403):157-163. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(03)15268-3

Caleyachetty R, Barber TM, Mohammed NI, et al.Ethnicity-specific BMI cutoffs for obesity based on type 2 diabetes risk in England: a population-based cohort study.Lancet Diabetes Endocrinol. doi:10.1016/S2213-8587(21)00088-7

WHO Expert Consultation.Appropriate body-mass index for Asian populations and its implications for policy and intervention strategies.Lancet. 363(9403):157-163. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(03)15268-3

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