00:00Experts are recommending a new way to determine your health risks based on your body size,
00:04and it has nothing to do with weight.
00:07The measurement, called Body Roundness Index, BRI,
00:10is calculated using someone's height and waist circumference.
00:13Researchers have found that people with the roundest body types may be
00:17as much as 163% more likely to develop heart disease than their peers who have slimmer waists.
00:24They say BRI may be a more accurate predictor of heart disease and death
00:28than using Body Mass Index, BMI.
00:31The Body Roundness Index calculates one's body size by including their waist circumference and height,
00:37unlike the Body Mass Index, which uses height and weight.
00:40This can give researchers a better idea of the fat distribution in the body
00:44and may be more useful in doctor's offices, experts say.
00:48BMI is a widely used, but recently controversial,
00:52measurement that uses someone's height and weight to determine whether they are underweight,
00:56normal weight, overweight, obese, or extremely obese.
01:00There's widespread criticism of BMI as a measurement,
01:03mainly that it was developed by studying the wealthy white men
01:07who have different average masses than other demographics.
01:10In addition, studies have shown that where your fat is located on your body
01:14may be a bigger influence on your health than the total amount of fat you carry.
01:18BMI can't account for where fat is located on the body.
01:21Fat that is clustered around your midsection and vital organs
01:25has been linked to an increased risk for diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease.
01:30But fat stored just under the skin, in regions like the legs and buttocks,
01:35hasn't been linked to health risks.
01:37Dr. Wenquan Niu, a BRI researcher at the Capital Institute of Pediatrics in Beijing,
01:42told the New York Times,
01:44Abdominal fat is like a silent killer lurking in our body,
01:47which can sneak up on a person over years with few noticeable symptoms,
01:51especially among apparently lean people.
01:54Dr. Niu and his colleagues' research was posted in the Journal of the American Medical Association
01:59and it evaluated how well BRI predicted mortality
02:02by looking at data from more than 320,900 U.S. adults over a 20-year period.
02:08They sorted the participants into five groups based on their height, weight, and waist circumference.
02:14Group 5 had the roundest bodies, group 3 was the average,
02:17and group 1 had the leanest bodies.
02:20They ruled out the influence of other factors like age, sex, ethnicity, income,
02:25tobacco and alcohol use, family history, and diabetes.
02:29Even after accounting for these, when looking at the number of deaths in each group,
02:33they found that those in the roundest group were 49% more likely to have died than those in the average group.
02:39Subcutaneous fat is more visible outside of the body,
02:43padding the outer layers of muscle just underneath the skin,
02:46and isn't linked to particular health concerns.
02:49Visceral fat, which lies deep amongst the organs,
02:52is more dangerous but less noticeable.
02:55Plus!
02:563. View Gallery
02:58Subcutaneous fat is more visible outside of the body,
03:02padding the outer layers of muscle just underneath the skin,
03:05and isn't linked to particular health concerns.
03:08Visceral fat, which lies deep amongst the organs,
03:11is more dangerous but less noticeable.
03:14Interestingly, those in group 1 and 4 were 25% more likely to have died than the average group.
03:21Similarly, a study from Nanjing Medical University
03:24that was posted in the Journal of the American Heart Association
03:27found that having a consistently high BRI over a 6-year period
03:31increased the risk of cardiovascular disease, like heart attack and stroke,
03:35by as much as 163%.
03:38Study author Dr. Yun Qian said that this could be
03:41because obesity and high abdominal fat levels
03:44have been linked to a number of conditions
03:46that make someone more likely to develop heart disease,
03:48like high blood pressure.
03:50Dr. Qian added,
03:51BRI measurements may potentially be used
03:54as a predictive factor for cardiovascular disease incidents.
03:57Body Mass Index, BMI,
03:59places people into one of five categories
04:02based on their height and weight alone.
04:04Critics say this measure is imprecise
04:06and can't account for things like fat distribution and muscle mass,
04:10suggesting BRI might be better.
04:12Plus,
04:133. View Gallery
04:15Body Mass Index, BMI,
04:17places people into one of five categories
04:20based on their height and weight alone.
04:22Critics say this measure is imprecise
04:24and can't account for things like fat distribution and muscle mass,
04:28suggesting BRI might be better.
04:30The tide began turning against BMI in recent years.
04:33In 2023,
04:35the American Medical Association recommended
04:37against using it widely in doctors' offices.
04:40The organization said there are
04:42issues with using BMI as a measurement
04:44due to its historical harm,
04:46its use for racist exclusion,
04:48and because BMI is based primarily on data
04:50collected from previous generations
04:52of non-Hispanic white populations.
04:54This, critics say,
04:56is because the tool was built
04:58only using data from wealthy white men.
05:00Yet it is applied to measure people
05:02of all demographics,
05:04which critics say makes it imprecise.
05:06Carrie Dennett,
05:07a registered dietitian-nutritionist
05:09with a clinic in the Pacific Northwest,
05:11wrote for the Seattle Times,
05:13As a measure of individual health,
05:15BMI has always been nonsense.
05:17They point out that BMI
05:19also can't distinguish between weight
05:21from muscle and fat.
05:23Because of that, you get misleading results,
05:25like highly muscled athletes being
05:27ranked as obese, Ms. Dennett said.
05:29Still, BRI isn't perfect, she said.
05:31BRI is better than BMI,
05:33but it still perpetuates weight-centric health care.
05:36Share or comment on this article.
05:38Forget BMI.
05:40Doctors want to use new BRI system
05:42to measure how round you are?
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