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It’s
a disturbing trend. Many doctors and health professionals continue
to use a very antiquated and outdated method for determining
your overall health and risk of heart disease. It’s called Body Mass
Index or ‘BMI’ for short.
Health
insurance companies are even refusing legitimate health claims based on
a person’s BMI!
So,
what’s the problem with BMI?
BMI
is extremely inaccurate as it
only takes into account 2 variables - your weight
and your height. BMI is calculated by taking your bodyweight and
dividing this by your height squared.
Therefore
BMI does not take into account important variables such as bone
structure and lean muscle mass.
Case
in Point:
The
absurdity of using the BMI measurement as an accurate indicator was
recently demonstrated when members of the
All Blacks rugby team were tested using the BMI scale.
Four
all blacks were classified as obese and the rest were overweight, when
clearly this is NOT the case!
The
same outcome would also hold true for people who have a naturally
larger build, greater bone density and more lean muscle than the
average person. (This includes strength athletes, bodybuilders and some
sports people.)
The
BMI formula was the basis of the recently released OECD report which
put New
Zealand as the 3rd fattest nation in the
developed world (behind the United States and Mexico)
Although New
Zealand may still rank as the 3rd fattest nation, using
BMI calls into question the accuracy of this study. In other
words it is highly likely that the percentage of people determined to
be overweight or obese may be significantly less
than the quoted figures. (According to
this study, 26.5% of all NZ adults are overweight or obese.)
For
far too long, body mass index has been used as a crude way of
determining obesity-related heart disease risk.
However,
according to the results of a new study, it’s the amount of
belly fat that is the one of the biggest determining factors
of heart disease risk.
For
example, men who have a waist measurement of 102 cms or more have a
higher risk of developing heart disease. Similarly, the figure for
women is 88 cms.
The
Best Indicators of Health:
If BMI is not
a reliable indicator of health, then what is?The best indicators of
overall health and cardiovascular fitness include the following tests:
(The first 6 tests can be conducted by a personal trainer.)
1) Body fat
percentage
2) Blood
pressure
3) Resting
heart rate
4) Waist
measurement
5) VO2
fitness test
6) PH (Acid / Alkaline levels)
7)
Cholesterol
8) Fasting
glucose (blood sugars)
When was the
last time you had YOUR Warrant
of fitness? Special Offer Here!
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