Appropriate BMI for Asian populations

Obesity has been proposed as the most important determinant of metabolic syndrome (characterised by insulin resistance, hypertriglyceriaemia, hypo-HDL-cholesterolaemia, and hypertension), and so it is important to develop simple and reliable anthropo-metric measurement tools for obesity, to facilitate the prevention of metabolic syndrome. The WHO expert consultation (Jan 10, p 157)1 reports that the universal body-mass index (BMI) criteria developed by WHO2 are not suitable for Asian populations, since such individuals have different associations between BMI, percentage of body fat, and health risks, from European populations.