3.1 Body Mass Index

• Obesity means being grossly overweight
• One of the measures used to calculate whether a person is healthy or not is called the Body Mass Index (BMI).
• The Body Mass Index (BMI), estimates the ideal weight of a person based on its size and weight.
• The Body Mass Index is valid for an adults between 18 – 65 years
• The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines this body mass index as the standard for measuring the risks associated with adults who are overweight.
• A high BMI is associated with increased risk of death.
• The risk of death increases the more overweight a person is for adults for cancer or other diseases.
• BMI is, however, much more reliable.
• It´s the result of a calculation between your weight and height, and gives you the possible risks to your health.
• Body mass index is defined as the individual’s body mass divided by the square of their height.

BMI can also be determined using a BMI chart, which displays BMI as a function of weight (horizontal axis) and height (vertical axis) using contour lines for different values of BMI or colours for different BMI categories.


Vox. (2018). What BMI doesn’t tell you…(Standard YouTube licence) – an interesting video!

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