BMI (Body Mass Index) classification for Asians

Body Mass Index for Asians

If you are an Asian you may be in a trouble, if you compare your BMI values with the WHO accepted world wide body mass index ranges. That is because they are not same even though the method of calculation is same. Therefore it is better to concentrate on WHO guideline on the Asian BMI values.However it is important to know what is BMI and the WHO classification on BMI. According to that we can get Underweight(under normal), Average (normal), Overweight(above normal) and the obese. The classification of these categories done according to the world wide average weights in related to the height.But, in the Asian countries it is significantly different from the average values of body mass index for world figure. Therefore WHO has made values for classification of BMI for the Asian countries.

Why the BMI values of Asian countries different

According to the researches done, there are significant different of the BMI values that are risking the people for curtain non communicable diseases. As example, as Asian you are high risk for heart diseases even with the BMI of 28 where as the European will have that on BMI of 30.

There is a two main different for this problem. There first thing is the additional fat content  and the other thing is the difference of fat distribution on the body in the Asians. Usually, Asians have shown increased fat accumulation even with the low BMI. Therefore WHO has accepted that the Asians are in a increased risk of curtain diseases related to the high BMI even with lower BMI value.

How to calculate the BMI for Asians

The calculation of BMI for the Asians are also same to the European or any other. It is the division of weight(in Kg) by the height (in m²).

                                BMI = your weight (in kg) 

                             your height² (in m²)

How to categories the risk of Asian according to the BMI

These are the figures specially prepared to the South Asian Countries. These can be vary according to the region. The better thing is to contact your health professionals about the levels. However this is same to the most of the other countries figures.

Classification	Asian Range	World wild range
Underweight	>17.50	>18.50
Normal weight	17.50 - 22.99	18.50 - 24.99
Over weight	23.00 - 27.99	25.00 - 29.99
Obese	28.00<	30.00 <

Therefore you can see the difference of the Asian figures and the world figures. So, it is important to use the relevant scale for Asian to get proper identification of risk.
To get the risk associated with the significant categories you have to refer the above link.