Is there a BMI with Age Calculator For Adults?
What is the BMI with age calculator? And more importantly, how can you tell if your weight is healthy for your age?
In this blog, we’ll explain the different types of BMI calculators, the pros and cons and answer the following questions:
– Why Isn’t there a BMI with Age Calculator For Adults?
– What is the BMI with Age Calculator For Children?
– What are the limitations of using BMI Calculators?
– What is the Obesity Paradox?
– What is the Healthy BMI Paradox?
– Should You Use a BMI Calculator If You Have an Existing Eating Disorder?
– Should You Use a BMI Calculator If You Are Over 60 years old?
– Should You Use a BMI Calculator If You Are of Asian Origin?
– What Other Measures Can You Use to Measure Your Health Status For Your Age?
Why Isn't there a BMI With Age Calculator For Adults?
The Body Mass Index (BMI) has been used since the 19th century as a means of assessing an individual’s health status using the following formula.
The NHS defines a normal BMI as anything between 18.5 and 24.9, a BMI of 25 to 29.9 is considered overweight, and anything above 30 is obese as outlined below.
These ranges are based on established research which shows that having excess body fat increases the risk of serious diseases such as cardiovascular disease, hypertension and diabetes, as well as conditions like Osteoarthritis and some types of cancer.
Underweight (18.5 or less)
Being underweight can be equally as dangerous as being overweight. Common health risks associated with being underweight can include:
- Weakened immune system
- Nutritional deficiencies
- Increased risk of Osteoporosis
- Fertility issues
Healthy (18.5-24.9)
This is the healthy weight range and means that you have a lower risk of developing health conditions as a result of your weight. Here are a few benefits of maintaining a healthy BMI:
- Reduced risk of having a stroke/heart attack
- Reduced risk of developing type 2 diabetes
- Reduced risk of joint complaints
- Less likely to experience complications during pregnancy and birth
However don’t get too comfortable, you can still be unhealthy & have a “healthy” BMI. We’ll touch on this further on.
Overweight (25-29.9)
Whilst not as severe as being obese, being overweight comes with all of the same risks. Common health risks associated with being overweight/obese can include:
- Heart disease
- Stroke
- Type-2 Diabetes
- Various types of cancer
Obese (Above 30)
Being obese comes with the highest risk of developing potentially life-threatening conditions. Common health risks associated with being overweight/obese can include:
- 3x more likely to develop colon cancer
- 2.5x more likely to develop high blood pressure, and therefore a higher risk of developing heart disease
- 5x more likely to develop Type 2 Diabetes.
BMI calculators, like the one above, are an excellent starting point if you’re interested in finding out if your weight is where it should be. They provide a useful overall indicator of your health status and risk of premature death.
While it is useful to evaluate different weights in relation to overall health, it is important to remember that just tracking height and weight does not take into consideration other pertinent factors such as age, physical activity levels and sex.
As we age we tend to lose body mass and muscle, yet BMI scores don’t take this into consideration.
Similarly, men usually have more muscle than women of the same size, resulting in lower BMIs for men versus women of comparable weight.
As a result, it may underestimate or overestimate fat levels in certain cases.
That’s why it’s important to remember that while the outputs of a BMI calculator can provide good insight into overall health status, they should be used with a combination of health measures like the waist-to-hip ratio which we’ll look at later.
What is the BMI With Age Calculator For Children?
Children’s BMI with age calculators like the one below from the NHS, is different from regular BMI calculators because they also take into account age and gender.
It’s important to monitor the health of growing kids, and a great way to do that is with a BMI with age calculator.
This tool takes into account height, weight, age and gender together to get a good view of a child’s development.
The calculator also factors in data from the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, which ensures an accurate tracking of percentile information.
Using this calculator helps parents to make sure their children are developing correctly; it will often show up if their weight is increasing too quickly relative to the expected height growth rate.
So, it’s an excellent way for parents to keep track of developments in a reliable way with confidence.
What are the Limitations of Using BMI
If you’ve used our BMI with age calculator, the chances are that you are either feeling pretty good about yourself, or pretty rubbish. But before you judge yourself, you must understand that BMI is a very controversial topic in the medical field.
There are BMI calculators for adults and BMI with age calculators for children that tell you what your “ideal weight” should be.
However, many people argue that BMI is not an accurate measure of health and here’s why.
Though an older adult may have a healthy Body Mass Index (BMI), they can still have too much fat. This is due to the natural fact that with age, more body fat accumulates in comparison to younger adults.
As with any age group, it is important for older adults to remain tuned into their body’s dietary needs and regulations as well as lead an active lifestyle as best as possible.
Women, who often have a higher percentage of body fat compared to men with the same BMI, may still have too much fat even if their BMI is otherwise considered healthy.
This disconnect between BMI and body fat content is due to different distributions of muscle mass and other factors, such as genetics, that can vary based on sex differences.
Finally, someone who is short and muscular could have a high BMI but be perfectly healthy, this is known as the obese BMI paradox. Just like Eddie Hall here…
What is the Obese BMI Paradox?
Interestingly, there are some people who are classified as overweight or obese who are actually less likely to have a heart attack or die from other health issues. How can this be?
Let’s say we have two different people who are both 6 feet tall & weigh 90kg. One of them is a professional athlete who has a very low amount of fat on their body and a lot of lean muscle. The other is a sedentary office worker who is carrying a lot of excess fat, and a small amount of muscle.
These two people will have a BMI reading of 26, making them both classified as overweight. Yet it’s fairly obvious to see that the professional athlete is by no means overweight and likely very healthy, so how could they get this result?
Well, this is actually one of the main problems with BMI, it can’t tell the difference between muscle mass & fat mass.
These two individuals weigh the same but both look completely different. One of them is slim and athletic, and the other is visibly overweight & unfit.
This is because muscle tissue is denser and takes up a lot less space than fat tissue. The BMI reading would be accurate to suggest that the office worker has high health risks but would be relatively inaccurate for the athlete. BMI simply can’t account for differences in body composition, and therefore may not be the most reliable indicator of health risks.
It is for this reason that we measure our client’s Waist-to-Hip Ratio as well as their BMI as this will tell us more about their body composition and risk of disease. You can read more about your Waist-to-Hip Ratio here.
What is the Healthy BMI Paradox?
Now let’s look at another two people, this time they are both 6 foot tall & weigh 80kg.
One of them is a fitness instructor, who prioritizes whole foods, consumes over 5 fruit and veg per day, exercises daily, and sleeps well. The other is a bar worker, who eats a lot of junk food, very little fruit and vegetables, rarely exercises, and has very poor sleep.
These two people would both have a BMI reading of 23.8, meaning both of them are classified as having a “healthy weight”.
Should You Use a BMI with Age Calculator If You Have an Existing Eating disorder?
If you have an eating disorder, do not use the adult BMI calculator or BMI with age calculator for children. Please ask a doctor for help.
Eating disorders can be highly challenging and even life-threatening. If you or someone you know has been diagnosed with an eating disorder, the results of any BMI calculator should not be used.
Although Body Mass Index has become a globally accepted way to measure health, only a medical professional can properly and accurately assess the impact that an eating disorder is having on the body.
If you have been diagnosed with an eating disorder, please seek advice from a GP who can provide further guidance tailored to your individual needs. This will ensure that all the right steps are taken towards optimal recovery and well-being.
Should You Use a BMI with Age Calculator If You Are Over 60 Years Old?
Some studies have revealed that BMI calculators for adults should take age into account to better reflect a person’s health.
For those aged 60 and above, this is especially significant, given the fact that they are more likely to experience a decrease in muscle mass as they get older. This could lead to potentially inaccurate results from regular BMI calculations, resulting in inaccurate readings of their body’s health.
Perhaps in the future, we will see more sophisticated BMI with age calculators available for use to better reflect our health status.
That’s why it’s important to remember that while the outputs of a BMI calculator can provide good insight into overall health status, they should not be used as the sole indicator of one’s health, especially for those in their golden years!
Should You Use the BMI Calculator If You Are of Asian Origin?
People of Asian origin have a higher tendency for accumulating intra-abdominal fat at lower Body Mass Index (BMI) than people of Caucasian origin.
This is why people with this pattern of weight gain are described as ‘apples’ instead of ‘pears’, as due to their body shape, health risks begin to rise with lower BMI.
By combinging BMI with a waist-to-hip ratio measurement you can get a better overall health status of an individual regardless of their ethnicity.
Intra-abdominal fat has been linked directly to the development of heart disease and type 2 diabetes, which makes it critical to pay attention to overall body composition rather than just BMI if you are an individual of Asian origin.
Because of this, the International Obesity Task Force conducted a detailed analysis of the evidence in order to accurately provide BMI cut-off points for Asian populations. It concluded that because of the variability between different Asian populations, it would not be appropriate to impose a universal set of definitions.
However, as a result of its review, it has been recommended that people of Asian origin should be considered overweight if their BMI is 23 or over for public health purposes.
What Other Measures Can You Use to Measure Health Status For Your Age?
BMI is just one possible tool you can use to evaluate your health, however, like most complex topics, more than one tool is often necessary and will allow you to do a better job.
The Waist-to-Hip Ratio (WHR) builds upon the waist measurement to provide a more accurate picture of how much fat you store around your midsection, which can also be used to evaluate your weight-related health risks.
Our Health Habits Assessment survey helps us to measure the lifestyle habits of our clients that ultimately lead to or hold people back from living a healthy lifestyle.
The ADL LifeCurve™ is an exciting development, based on the research of Prof. Peter Gore and colleagues at Newcastle University.
This concept, known as the Compression of Functional Decline (CFD), looks at the correlation between a person’s abilities in completing activities of daily living (ADLs) and their physical fitness and strength markers.
By combining 15 ADLs with 4 fitness biomarkers, we can accurately determine each individual’s lifespan curve. This enables us to identify which stage along the ageing trajectory they are currently at by assessing where they fall on the LifeCurve™.
With this analysis, society can improve and optimise services for specific stages of life by targeting activities or products that will help maintain or restore abilities.
Essentially, ADL Smartcare’s LifeCurve™ provides individuals with insightful knowledge related to their personal ageing patterns.
Take-Home Points
Once you know your BMI, you can look at the different ranges and see where you fall. If your BMI falls into one of the wrong ranges, don’t worry!
At Health by Science, we take a variety of different measures with our Personal Training clients in Edinburgh, alongside taking your lifestyle factors into account as well.
This will allow for a more accurate estimation of your health, and also highlight what areas you need to improve on.
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