BMI change of 1998

Interesting. In my "after" picture, my BMI is 27.5 which was always my "target weight" in the old days.

I totally forgot that in 1998 that would have been considered in the high end of normal (28 being the line between healthy and overweight for men before 1998.) I refuse to consider myself "overweight" at that weight, though I know the BMI police would take issue with that.

I dont remember that change - however i do think healthy BMI depends on individual - young men in particular are likely to be healthy at a BMI of slightly higher than general population, upper limit of 27 sounds about right - because they carry proportionately more muscle than general population.

Elite body builders of either gender are outliers - I dont mean them, just 'ordinary fitness level' young men.

I also think BMI healthy limits does depend on racial group as well - If I remember rightly asian people are generally healthy at lower limits, say, upper limit of 23?
So perhaps lowering the limit had something to do with averaging out to allow for that??

Changing the BMI range to include different body types makes as much sense as claiming 2/3'rds of people are lactose intolerant.

If there are legit differences, then account for that. But don't make wholesale changes based on specific population groups.

collectingblues wrote: »

Yeah, I don't know when 18.5 was decided to be underweight, or if it was always that way, but my physicians have told me for some time now that 20 is really the cut-off for Caucasians (excluding, of course, those who are legitimately and naturally smaller framed) and that the 18.5 was to include those of Asian backgrounds and others who are naturally lighter.

It was changed from 20 to 18.5 to accommodate Asian populations and shorter than average women. I've done a few half hearted searches to try and find exactly when and have failed to but I recall a 1998ish paper discussing changes hence my question above.

A few initiatives to definite an upper bound of 23 for asian populations has been bandied about. The WHO decided not to make changes as a whole; but, individual jurisdictions have gone ahead and issued recommendations that take this into account... https://www.chp.gov.hk/en/statistics/data/10/280/427.html

I was not aware of BMI in 1998 and did not know it changed. I was 20-21 BMI back then I guess and had never been overweight.