German researchers claim "healthy obesity" exists, suggesting that the Body Mass Index tool is no longer efficient in analyzing health, according to The Daily Mail.
The new study, conducted by the German Institute of Human Nutrition, said a "metabolically healthy obesity" category should be established to better determine what kind of people should result in serious weight loss surgeries and treatments.
"Potentially, scarce resources can be more effectively used if tailored towards the metabolic profile of an obese individual; some prevention and treatment strategies can be very expensive and time consuming," said Professor Matthis Schulze, the lead author of the study. "In view of the magnitude of the obesity epidemic, stratification of obese individuals, in terms of their risk for obesity-related metabolic diseases, becomes more important for prevention and treatment purposes."
Researchers suggest waist size, physical fitness, fat around the organs, and low insulin resistance could all be elements of the proposed category of obesity as opposed to using the BMI. Most doctors believe a BMI of over 30 leads to a greater risk of serious conditions, like heart disease and cancer, but German researchers disagree.
"Results from several prospective studies show that only obese, unfit individuals, but not obese, fit individuals, are at higher mortality risk than are normal weight fit individuals."
BMI is a measure of body fat based on height and weight and is different for men and women, according to the National Heart, Blood, and Lung Institute. The institute's website mentions BMI can overestimate the amount of fat in athletes with muscular builds and underestimate body fat in elderly people who have lost muscle.
While the scientists believe there should be a greater division of obesity levels, they still say obese people should consider losing weight.
