A new study published in Frontiers in Nutrition has shown that a significant proportion of normal-weight individuals may be obese according to their body fat percentage.
The study included over 3,000 participants in Israel who completed dual x-ray absorptiometry scans to measure body composition, including total fat content. In addition, their body mass indexes (BMIs) and cardiometabolic blood markers were measured. In the study, excess adiposity was defined as ³25% body fat for men and ³35% for women.
About one third of the participants were in the normal BMI range of 18.5–24.9 km/m2. However, these normal-weight individuals had a wide body fat percentage range of 4–49%, and 26% of the men and 38% of the women were classified as having excess adiposity, or “obesity with normal weight”. When compared to normal weight participants who did not have excess adiposity, these individuals had elevated triglycerides and LDL cholesterol. The men in this group also had elevated total cholesterol. Interestingly, 30% of the men and 10% of the women who were classified as overweight according to their BMI had a normal body fat percentage.
One of the authors called their findings “alarming”; people in the normal BMI range who have “obesity with normal weight” may be at high cardiometabolic risk without realizing it. Since BMI is the standard measurement for determining obesity, even physicians may not realize that their patients are technically obese and at high cardiovascular and metabolic risk. The authors concluded that body fat percentage is a much more reliable indicator of general health that should become the standard measurement at clinics.
Sources: Frontiers in Nutrition, Science Daily