ECO: BMI System May Inflate Weight Status Classification

TUESDAY, April 7, 2026 (HealthDay News) -- Current body mass index (BMI) classification may overestimate the prevalence of underweight, overweight, and obesity among the general population, according to a study published in Nutrients and scheduled to be presented at the annual meeting of the European Congress on Obesity, hosted by the European Association for the Study of Obesity and held from May 12 to 15 in Istanbul.Chiara Milanese, Ph.D., from the University of Verona in Italy, and colleagues evaluated the accuracy of the World Health Organization BMI classification versus body fat percentage measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry among a general population of 1,351 adults aged 18 to 98 years.The researchers found that based on the BMI classification, 78.1 percent of the individuals who were in the normal-weight range were correctly classified. However, 53.4 percent of the overweight group and 68.4 percent of the underweight group were misclassified according to BMI, with most falling into the normal-weight range according to their body fat percentage. More than one-third of the obesity group (34 percent) was misclassified based on BMI and was reclassified with overweight by adiposity status."Health care practitioners should be advised not to rely solely on the BMI, and should integrate its use with adiposity measures (i.e., body fat percentage) or alternative surrogate indicators (i.e., waist-based) in routine evaluations, especially in those with a BMI below or above 18.5 kg/m2 or 25 kg/m2," the authors write.Abstract/Full TextMore Information.Sign up for our weekly HealthDay newsletter

ECO: BMI System May Inflate Weight Status Classification

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