New obesity measure predicts early death better than BMI

[Northerner]

BMI, or Body Mass Index, has long been the most common and convenient way to estimate a person?s percentage of body fat. Obesity is a leading cause of death worldwide. However, BMI is a poor predictor of when someone has entered the danger zone and is at risk of dying early. ?One criticism leveled at BMI is that it doesn?t distinguish muscle and fat mass, so that it doesn?t tell you if you have too much fat,? said Dr. Nir Krakauer, assistant professor of civil engineering in CCNY?s Grove School of Engineering, and study coauthor. Professor Krakauer and his co-author, Jesse Krakauer ? a physician who happens to be his father ? set out to correct this weakness. They improved on BMI?s predictive power by creating a new index that incorporates body shape into the calculation called ABSI for ?A Body Shape Index.? Their report appeared July 18 in the journal PLoS ONE.

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