Want To Know If You’re Overweight? Forget BMI—Measure This, Says a Team of Experts

According to the National Library of Medicine, body mass index—commonly called “BMI”—was introduced as a system of bodily measurement in 1972. BMI calculates a correlational measurement between height and weight to determine whether an individual is obese or living at a healthy weight. However, in recent years experts have increasingly called out the widely used screening tool, saying BMI serves as a poor proxy for actual health.
A breaking January 2025 report published in the medical community’s highly regarded journal, The Lancet, has re-examined the definition of obesity as a chronic disease. Reported by The Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology Commission, the report suggests that BMI does not define the condition nor replace clinical judgment in identifying it. In fact, the report suggests that BMI can underestimate or overestimate one’s body fat, convoluting many patients’ healthcare needs. BMI doesn’t take into account factors like muscle mass or visceral fat—both of which are consistently shown to have significant impact on the development of chronic diseases and even longevity.
The commission consisted of a group of 58 experts working in a range of medical specializations and countries, including professionals “with lived experience of obesity” to be inclusive of multiple perspectives. Their aim was to establish unbiased criteria for disease diagnosis, therapeutic interventions, and public health strategies for obese individuals.
As a result, they suggest BMI does a poor job of diagnosing clinical obesity. The team defines clinical obesity as a chronic, systemic illness in which excess body fat causes changes or damage in the tissues, the organs, or the entire body. They note that cases of clinical obesity can result in “severe end-organ damage, causing life-altering and potentially life-threatening complications”—for instance, heart attack, stroke, and kidney failure. (Meanwhile, “preclinical obesity” represents a state of excess body fat with “preserved function of other tissues and organs and a varying, but generally increased, risk of developing clinical obesity and several other non-communicable diseases” like certain cancers, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and more.)
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