BMI Calculator

The BMI calculator is not a tool in trend but a necessity these days since the obesity rates globally are on its all time high. It is used to analyse the following key health aspects:

BMI calculator plays a vital role to check whether a person is healthy or not. It is an easy to use tool for assessing the health of an individual and also works as the ‘Obesity Indicator. Following reasons makes BMI calculator a useful tool for public:

A BMI score of 25 or higher indicates that a person is overweight. Excess weight carries the following health risks:

• Type 2 diabetes and insulin resistance
• Heart disease and stroke
• High blood pressure
• Certain Cancers related to the breast, colon, endometrium, gall bladder, kidney, liver, etc.
• Digestive issues
• Sleep apnoea, or intermittent breathing obstruction during sleep
• Osteoarthritis or breakdown of joint cartilage
• Steatotic liver diseases or excess fat in the liver (commonly knows as fatty liver disease)
• Breathing trouble
• Hernia
• Varicose veins
• Cataract
• Gout
• Stress incontinence or urge to urinate frequently
• Mental health issues like clinical depression
• Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) and Polycystic ovarian disease (PCOD) in women
• Menstrual Cycle irregularities

A BMI score of 18.5 or less means that an individual is underweight. Less weight increases the risk of the following health conditions:

• Osteoporosis or brittle bones
• Thinning skin, hair loss, and dry skin
• Poor dental health
• Getting sick frequently for a longer duration
• Feeling tired always
• Anaemia or low blood count
• Irregular menstrual cycle
• Premature delivery before 37 weeks
• Slow and impaired growth

The body mass index calculator is an essential tool for checking weight and assessing certain health conditions. Although it can be used as a general health indicator, it cannot be used as a diagnostic tool.

Healthcare providers use BMI alongside several other indicators such as blood tests, screening, imaging etc. to accurately rule out any health issues.

Furthermore, health conditions depend on genetics and other environmental factors in addition to body mass index. Hence, it is essential to visit a professional healthcare provider to obtain an accurate diagnosis and not to rely solely on BMI results.

You’re responsible for your own health. So, to keep your body healthy and sound you need to take charge of your health by start including healthy habits and regular health tracking. Sharing following 7 steps to ensure a healthy body and mind:

While BMI is a standard indicator of ones health status, especially in the field of health insurance and life insurance in India, it isnt a fool-proof system. While many BMI calculators do ask for ones gender and age along with their height and weight, but due to a lack of differential BMI ranges, the BMI result dont reveal the exact picture.

Lets understand the limitations of BMI for adults, children and teenagers as explained below:

• No Male-Female Division:

  A common disadvantage of BMI is that it doesn't take into account whether the person in question is a male or a female. Its basic science that males and females have different levels of body fat necessary for optimum condition of their physical and mental working.

• No Difference Between Muscle and Fat

  When calculating BMI, ones height and weight are considered. It cannot distinguish between the body fat and body muscle leading to not-so-correct calculations. A person who does weight training and has a high-protein diet is going to have more muscles than fat. But BMI calculation cannot cut down the muscle-content from fat resulting in a high BMI of that person.

• BMI limitation for Children

  A childs body is on an ongoing curve. Their BMI can fluctuate significantly because of continuing changes in their height as well as weight. An active child falling low on BMI but it will show them to be underweight, giving a false indication of poor health.

Apart from these, BMI does not consider the role played by ones ethnicity and race on their height and weight. Asians generally have up to 5% more body fat than Caucasians. Similarly, Africans and Afro-Americans touch the height bars higher as compared to Asians and Caucasians. BMI does not take into account these facts.

The risk of diabetes is highest in Asians, followed by African-Americans and Caucasians. This is totally disregarded in the BMI calculations, thus giving half-baked health indicators.

Although the body mass index calculator is an essential tool to calculate body fat, it comes with certain limitations:

Body mass index is not always reliable or accurate. Here are some alternatives for measuring weight-related health risks:

Ponderal Index is another way of measuring ones health, like BMI. However, where BMI calculation only takes into account ones height and weight, Ponderal Index gives much accurate results as it undertakes a persons body mass distribution by including the cubic power of their height. The formula for calculating a persons Ponderal Index is weight/height^3.

Also, Ponderal Index for adults is used with different units, i.e. kilograms for weight and meters for height. Similarly, for children it comes with grams and centimeters, for weight and height respectively.

The Ponderal Index (PI) formula helps measure the leanness of a human body by dividing your weight by the cube of your height. For children and adolescents, this formula provides a more accurate calculation than a body mass index calculator, as it can capture the changes in body composition due to growth. PI helps classify weight status and assess health risks more precisely in growing individuals.

The PI formula for infants and adults is provided below:

PI formula for infants = (Birth weight (g) × 100) ÷ (Crown heel length (cm))3

PI formula for adults = Ponderal index = Weight (Kg) ÷ (Height (m))3

The ideal PI range for infants is between 2.2 and 3. However, the range for adults is divided into the following categories:

BMI has a crucial role in determining your health insurance premium. Your Body Mass Index (BMI) usually indicates your health condition. Thus, health insurance companies often use a BMI calculator to assess your health risk by simply looking at your BMI.

As a result, the BMI of a policyholder influences their health insurance premium in the following ways:

• Individuals with Higher BMI

  If you have a higher BMI above 24.9, you may develop obesity-related conditions such as diabetes, cardiac issues, hypertension, etc. All these conditions increase the chances of frequent insurance claims. Thus, insurance companies charge a higher premium for those with higher BMIs, considering their health risks.

• Individuals with Lower BMI

  If your BMI is below 18.5, then you have a lower Body Mass Index. A lower BMI also increases the risk of malnutrition-related health issues. Thus, insurance companies charge higher premiums for such policyholders because they face a higher risk of health issues.

• Individuals with Healthy BMI

  Those with a BMI between 18.5 and 24.9 are considered healthy. Such individuals can negotiate with the insurance company for lower premiums or discounts on health insurance policies.

  Having low health risks means their frequency of health insurance claims will be lower. So, the insurance company considers them to have a low-risk profile and charges a lower premium than those with higher BMI.

Knowing how BMI affects your health insurance premium underscores the importance of maintaining a healthy BMI for both financial and health reasons. It also highlights the importance of BMI in healthcare and its impact on policyholders, healthcare providers, and insurers.