Body mass index (BMI) is a measure of your body fat, based on your weight in relation to your height. It applies to most adult men and women aged 20 and over.

 

BMI does not measure body fat directly. However, research indicates that BMI compares to other direct measures of body fat, such as underwater weighing or dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA), and is considered an easy-to-calculate alternative for these.

 

What does this mean?

 

BMI can be used as a tool to indicate whether a person is underweight, healthy, overweight, obese or morbidly obese.

 

If a person's BMI is out of the healthy range, their health risks may increase significantly.

 

BMI values are age-independent and the same for both sexes. However, BMI may not correspond to the same level of interpretation in different populations due to different body proportions.

 

The health risks associated with an increasing BMI can be mitigated with proper diet and exercise.