Body fat determines need for weight loss

At first blush. makes sense. But there are the problems. Here are a few.

"Measuring body fat, rather than body mass index, appears to more accurately identify people who need lifestyle interventions to lose weight, study findings suggest."

First, no one really knows what the "right" percentage of body fat is.

"'The use of BMI alone does not discriminate between fat mass and fat-free mass, nor reflect the fat mass distribution,' Colombo told Reuters Health."

Second. Though true, for the majority of us, this is not a problem. Most of us who are overweight or obese according to the BMI, have too much fat.

"'Using criteria based on body adiposity (fatness) rather than body weight would result in a much greater proportion of the study population receiving recommendations for weight loss,' Colombo said."

Third. Body adiposity measurements are more difficult to perform, the equipment needed is either not as accessible to the average person or requires more skill than measuring height and weight, do not offer "distribution" information and have a relatively high margin of error.

Bottom line: it is not as user-friendly.

Further, even if you know the body fat percentage, the BMI has the great value of offering an estimation of how to modify your caloric intake.

Until more body adiposity info, e.g., how much is "right" is known, measuring means that are better/simpler and good correlating data of body fat percentage/distribution with sickness/death become available, BMI is still tops.