Fitness and Fatness: Body Mass Index versus Percent Body Fat

Abstract

Background: Body mass index (BMI) is frequently used to evaluate risk of disease, but can be misleading because it does not account for different types of tissue mass (e.g., bone, muscle, fat). The purpose of this study was to classify adults in the United States according to cardiovascular fitness (CVF), BMI, and body fat using the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) data. Methods: The three most current NHANES datasets (6,648 records) were included. Counts, means, and 95% confidence intervals (CI) determined the distribution of CVF across percent of body fat and BMI categories. Results: According to BMI, approximately 42.3% of participants were classified as either underweight or normal weight, and 24.9% were classified as obese. According to percent of body fat, 13.5% of subjects were classified as lean, while 68.4% of subjects were in the high percent body fat group. In regard to BMI, 9.9% and 6.7% of the overweight and obese populations, respectively, were classified in the highest third of CVF. According to adiposity, 6.6% and 21.0% of the moderate and high percent body fat population fell into the same category, respectively. Conclusion: Two-thirds of the population ranked below the 35th percentile for body fat (high percent body fat), with more of these individuals in the low CVF category than any other. The largest categorization for BMI was the normal-weight category. This supports that BMI may be misleading, and that utilizing percent body fat and CVF may provide a better indication of health.

Association between Percent Body Fat and Low High-Density Lipoproteinemia in Middle-Aged Men in Korea

“…21) There is a lack of comprehensive studies on the appropriate criteria for PBF. 22) This warrants further investigation.…”

A Study on Body Fat Percentage for Physical Fitness and Prevention of Obesity: A Two Compartment Model

“…They have stressed that practitioners should prioritize training and nutritional strategies that maximize fat-free mass development (Geeson-Brown et al, 2020). Jennifer Bunn and her coworkers have classified adults in the USA according to cardiovascular fitness (CVF), BMI, and body fat using the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) data (Bunn et al, 2019). Thant Zin and his coauthors have measured average BMI and mean BFP by body fat analyzer for obesity awareness promotion.…”

“…Therefore, BMI cannot always properly infer the risk of chronic disease that is associated with a higher degree of body fat (Cornier et al, 2011). Hence, it may be particularly misleading in hospital patients and nutritional management system, and it is not a part of compartmental model (Bunn et al, 2019, Mohajan & Mohajan, 2023b.…”

“…For example, female hormone estrogen and male hormone testosterone control the sexual characteristics of males and females, respectively. Overall mortality, cardiovascular diseases, metabolic disorder diseases, and obesity are related to BFP (Cordova et al, 2012;Bunn et al, 2019).…”

Association of body mass index with clinical variants of psoriasis

“…Study limitations: BMI evaluates excess weight rather than excess fat [28], consequently it poorly distinguishes between fat mass and bone or lean mass [29]. Waist circumference is recommended as additional measurement for fat distribution regarding its high correlation with visceral fat [30].…”