One Third of Normal-Weight Individuals are Obese

Researchers from the School of Public Health at Tel Aviv University’s Faculty of Medicine examined the anthropometric [the scientific study of the measurements and proportions of the human body] data of about 3,000 Israeli women and men and concluded that body fat percentage is a much more reliable indicator of an individual’s overall health and cardiometabolic risk than the BMI index, widely used in clinics today. The researchers suggest that body fat percentage should become the gold standard in this respect and recommend equipping clinics all over Israel with suitable devices.

‘The Paradox of Obesity with Normal Weight’

The study – the largest of its kind ever conducted in Israel – was led by Prof. Yftach Gepner and PhD student Yair Lahav, in collaboration with Aviv Kfir. It was based on data from the Yair Lahav Nutrition Center in Tel Aviv.  The paper was published in Frontiers in Nutrition.

“Israel is a leader in childhood obesity and more than 60% of the country’s adults are defined as overweight,” says Prof. Gepner, adding that, “the prevailing index in this respect is BMI, based on weight and height measures, which is considered a standard indicator of an individual’s general health. However, despite the obvious intuitive connection between excess weight and obesity, the actual measure for obesity is the body’s fat content, with the maximum normal values set at 25% for males and 35% for females. Higher fat content is defined as obesity and can cause a range of potentially life-threatening cardiometabolic diseases: heart disease, diabetes, fatty liver, kidney dysfunction, and more. The disparity between the two indexes has generated a phenomenon called ‘the paradox of obesity with normal weight’ – higher than normal body fat percentage in normal-weight individuals. In this study we examined the prevalence of this phenomenon in Israel’s adult population.”

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