Instead of using the controversial body mass index, or BMI, to assess weight, an international group of scientists proposes an approach that looks at how excess body fat affects health

As obesity experts say more than 15 million Birtons are being wrongly labelled overweight and propose a radical overhaul of the traditional BMI measure currently being used, Leah Hardy unpicks the sci

New recommendations on how to define obesity would reduce the emphasis on body mass index and also take into account health problems from extra weight and other measurements

Body Mass Index, or BMI, has long been criticized as an unreliable method for measuring obesity — and now a group of experts is sharing new recommendations for how to use it.

The way obesity is diagnosed needs to become more sophisticated, an international commission has concluded. Using body-mass index to tell who is overweight or obese is not reliable and can result in misdiagnosis,

Under recommendations released Tuesday night, obesity would no longer be defined solely by BMI, a calculation of height and weight, but combined with other measurements, such as waist circumference, plus evidence of health problems tied to extra pounds.

An international committee of scientists has proposed changing the way obesity is defined and diagnosed. The proposal adds more ways to measure body composition and fat.