title: Changing guards: time to move beyond body mass index for population monitoring of excess adiposity.
abstract: With the obesity epidemic, and the effects of aging populations, human phenotypes have changed over two generations, possibly more dramatically than in other species previously. As obesity is an important and growing hazard for population health, we recommend a systematic evaluation of the optimal measure(s) for population-level excess body fat. Ideal measure(s) for monitoring body composition and obesity should be simple, as accurate and sensitive as possible, and provide good categorization of related health risks. Combinations of anthropometric markers or predictive equations may facilitate better use of anthropometric data than single measures to estimate body composition for populations. Here, we provide new evidence that increasing proportions of aging populations are at high health-risk according to waist circumference, but not body mass index (BMI), so continued use of BMI as the principal population-level measure substantially underestimates the health-burden from excess adiposity.
authors.affiliation: From the 1Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute, the Alfred Centre, Level 4, 99 Commercial Road, Melbourne, Victoria 3004, Australia.
authors.forename: S K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Tanamas
authors.affiliation: Human Nutrition, School of Medicine, College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, Royal Infirmary Campus, Alexandra Parade, Glasgow G31 2ER, UK.
authors.forename: M E J
authors.initials: MEJ
authors.lastname: Lean
authors.affiliation: Human Nutrition, School of Medicine, College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, Royal Infirmary Campus, Alexandra Parade, Glasgow G31 2ER, UK.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Combet
authors.affiliation: Human Nutrition, School of Medicine, College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, Royal Infirmary Campus, Alexandra Parade, Glasgow G31 2ER, UK.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vlassopoulos
authors.affiliation: From the 1Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute, the Alfred Centre, Level 4, 99 Commercial Road, Melbourne, Victoria 3004, Australia.
authors.forename: P Z
authors.initials: PZ
authors.lastname: Zimmet
authors.affiliation: From the 1Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute, the Alfred Centre, Level 4, 99 Commercial Road, Melbourne, Victoria 3004, Australia.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Peeters
mesh_terms: D050154:Adiposity / Q000502:physiology*; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000517:prevention & control; D015897:Comorbidity; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D024821:Metabolic Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000517:prevention & control; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012015:Reference Standards; D012307:Risk Factors; D049629:Waist-Hip Ratio / Q000379:methods*