The Body Mass Index (BMI) is an indicator of fat content in an individual’s body and can signify the risks of disease and death that the person faces. It would help immensely if one kept a close watch on this number, so as to be aware of any health risks they face.
There are some flaws with the BMI system. For example, it overestimates the body fat in athletes and body-builders due to their muscular build and might underestimate the body fat content in old persons or others who, for some reason, have lost body mass. Other risk factors associated with the calculated BMI could be hypertension, high cholesterol, and high sugar.
The BMI percentile is another helpful statistic. It compares the person’s BMI to thousands of other people in same reference sample, so as to enable a comparative study of that person’s health with respect to the rest of the population within permissible constraints. For example, if a boy is 8 years old and his BMI falls at the 60th percentile, that means that 40% of 8-year old boys have a higher BMI and 60% have a lower BMI than that child.
The body mass index is a useful statistic that determines the degree of healthiness one enjoys. The BMI assesses your weight in relation to your height. A healthy BMI for an adult generally falls between 18.5 and 25. If the BMI is more than 25, the individuals are probably classified as overweight, and if it is 30 or higher, one is considered obese, and 40 or higher, extremely obese.