Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

Obesity

BAI as a new measure of adiposity—throw away your scale?

Subjects

Protein–calorie malnutrition and obesity are global afflictions for which the main diagnostic measure is the BMI. A new index based on hip circumference—the body adiposity index (BAI)—could overcome BMI limitations as a measure of adiposity and may have value in settings in which weight scales are unavailable.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. Keys, A., Fidanza, F., Karvonen, M. J., Kimura, N. & Taylor, H. L. Indices of relative weight and obesity. J. Chronic Dis. 25, 329–343 (1972).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Bergman, R. N. et al. A better index of body adiposity. Obesity (Silver Spring) doi:10.1038/oby.2011.38.

  3. Heymsfield, S. B., Martin-Nguyen, A., Fong, T. M., Gallagher, D. & Pietrobelli, A. Body circumferences: clinical implications emerging from a new geometric model. Nutr. Metab. (Lond.) 5, 24 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Schmidt-Nielsen, K. Scaling in biology: the consequences of size. J. Exp. Zool. 194, 287–307 (1975).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Eknoyan, G. Adolphe Quetelet (1796–1874)—the average man and indices of obesity. Nephrol. Dial. Transplant. 23, 47–51 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Heymsfield, S. B., Heo, M. & Pietrobelli, A. Are adult body circumferences associated with height? Relevance to normative ranges and circumferential indexes. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 93, 302–307 (2011).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Heymsfield, S. B., Heo, M., Thomas, D. & Pietrobelli, A. Scaling of body composition to height: relevance to height-normalized indexes. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 93, 736–740 (2011).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Gallagher, D. et al. Healthy percentage body fat ranges: an approach for developing guidelines based on body mass index. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 72, 694–701 (2000).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Kragelund, C. & Omland, T. A farewell to body-mass index? Lancet 366, 1589–1591 (2005).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Cole, T. J. in Anthropometric Assessment of Nutritional Status (ed. Himes, J. H.) 83–111 (Wiley–Liss, New York, 1991).

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Steven B. Heymsfield.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Heymsfield, S., Shen, W. BAI as a new measure of adiposity—throw away your scale?. Nat Rev Endocrinol 7, 321–322 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrendo.2011.75

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrendo.2011.75

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing