Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70808, USA.
Nutrients. 2023 May 10;15(10):2254. doi: 10.3390/nu15102254.
This review examined the origins of the concept of the BMI in the work of Quetelet in the 19th century and its subsequent adoption and use in tracking the course of the pandemic of obesity during the 20th century. In this respect, it has provided a valuable international epidemiological tool that should be retained. However, as noted in this review, the BMI is deficient in at least three ways. First, it does not measure body fat distribution, which is probably a more important guide to the risk of excess adiposity than the BMI itself. Second, it is not a very good measure of body fat, and thus its application to the diagnosis of obesity or excess adiposity in the individual patient is limited. Finally, the BMI does not provide any insights into the heterogeneity of obesity or its genetic, metabolic, physiological or psychological origins. Some of these mechanisms are traced in this review.
这篇综述考察了 BMI 概念的起源，它源于 19 世纪凯特莱特的工作，以及它在 20 世纪追踪肥胖流行过程中的后续采用和使用。在这方面，它提供了一个有价值的国际流行病学工具，应该保留。然而，正如本综述所指出的，BMI 在至少三个方面存在缺陷。首先，它不能衡量体脂分布，而体脂分布可能比 BMI 本身更能反映超重的风险。其次，它不是衡量体脂的一个很好的指标，因此它在个体患者的肥胖或超重诊断中的应用是有限的。最后，BMI 不能提供任何关于肥胖的异质性或其遗传、代谢、生理或心理起源的见解。本综述追溯了其中的一些机制。
