摘要：The most common way of doing it is using BMI, or Body Mass Index, which calculates whether someone is a healthy weight for their h

Have we been measuring obesity wrongly?

被我们用来判断肥胖的方法是否有误？

The most common way of doing it is using BMI, or Body Mass Index, which calculates whether someone is a healthy weight for their height.

最常用的判断肥胖的指标是 BMI，即身体质量指数，它通过计算得出一个人的体重相对于身高是否健康的结论。

For many adults, a BMI over 25 is considered overweight, and anything over 30 is obese.

对许多成年人来说，身体质量指数大于 25 即被视为超重，大于 30 即被视为肥胖。

This can vary depending on our ethnic background.

但这也取决于我们的族裔背景。

BMI is a quick and easy method supported by the World Health Organization, but it has limitations.

用身体质量指数判断胖瘦程度既快速又简便，这个方法得到了世界卫生组织的认可，但它也有局限性。

It can't measure the difference between fat, muscle and bone.

它无法区分体内脂肪、肌肉和骨骼之间的差异。

And as humans age, muscle declines and fat builds up around the waist, often with no change in weight.

随着人们年龄增长，肌肉比例会减少，脂肪会堆积在腰部，而体重却往往没有变化。

This is one of the reasons why many studies have suggested different cut-off points of BMI over the years.

这就是为什么多年来许多研究都建议针对每个年龄段设定不同的临界值的原因之一。

Researchers in Italy scanned people aged between 40 and 80 to work out their body fat percentage.

意大利的研究人员对年龄在 40 至 80 岁之间的人群进行了身体扫描，以计算出他们的体脂率。

They found significantly more people were considered obese using this method than would have been using BMI.

他们发现，在使用体脂率计算方法后，更多的人会被判定为肥胖。

The researchers say that we should lower our definition of obesity for this age group to a BMI of 27, but further work will be needed to confirm the results of the study.

研究人员表示，对这个年龄段的人来说，身体质量指数在 27 以上时就应判定为肥胖，但还需要进一步的研究工作来证实这个研究结果。

For now, it's much cheaper to calculate BMI than it is to measure body fat percentage, so it's unlikely we will ditch the former any time soon.

目前，计算身体质量指数要比测量体脂率的成本低得多，因此我们不太可能在短期内舍弃身体质量指数这个指标。

来源：英语东