It turns out that more American women can be classified as obese and not less, when methods of analysis other than BMI are used to calculate obesity.
The Body mass index uses the height and weight of a woman to calculate whether or not she is obese according to federal guidelines, but it would seem that these require revision.
When the Body Fat Analysis used by the WHO was used on American women, around half of those who were categorized as not obese (by BMI measurement) were reevaluated as being obese.
Under these international guidelines as many as half of white American women and two thirds of Latino women are actually considered obese.
This is an important factor among women of reproductive age since they are more likely to be obese than men of a similar age and their risk of heart disease and diabetes increases proportionally.
The reason that the BMI indicator may be actually harmful is that it lulls women into a false sense of security, due to the mistaken belief that their weight is within healthy limits whereas they should actually be classified as obese.
Since they believe themselves not to be obese, they also do not seek the help of obesity prevention programs that could help them and their health.
Source: USA Today
