Body mass index : considerations for practitioners

Body mass index (BMI) is a measure of weight adjusted for height, calculated as weight in kilograms divided by the square of height in meters (kg/m2). Although BMI is often considered an indicator of body fatness, it is a surrogate measure of body fat because it measures excess weight rather than excess fat. Despite this fact, studies have shown that BMI is correlated to more direct measures of body fat, such as underwater weighing and dual energy x-ray absorptiometry.201