Waist-to-height ratio more accurate than BMI in identifying obesity, new study shows
The research, published in the latest edition of PLOS ONE journal, aimed to improve the way that obesity is currently measured and classified by examining the whole-body fat percentage and visceral adipose tissue (VAT) mass (the fat stored around the abdominal region where most of internal organs lie) of a group of 81 adults (40 women and 41 men). It aimed to find the most accurate way of predicting this measurement in a clinical environment and set cut-points for obesity. The researchers, led by Dr Michelle Swainson, Senior Lecturer in Exercise Physiology in the Carnegie School of Sport at Leeds Beckett, found that 36.5% more adults would be classified as obese using whole-body fat data (one in two participants) rather than body mass index (BMI) (around one in seven participants, or 13.5%). The team gathered accurate whole-body and abdominal fat data using a total body dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) scanner -- a highly accurate way of measuring body composition and fat