• Written by Matthew Hill
  • Health correspondent for the West of England

Anonymous child eating burger and chips at home

image source, Getty Images

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One in three children in the UK is obese or overweight, according to NHS data

A new system for measuring obesity levels in children could be more accurate, a study has found.

This revealed that traditional methods using Body Mass Index (BMI) are not as useful for measuring fat as waist-to-height ratio (WHtR).

Over 15 years of follow-up, 7,237 9-year-old children were studied.

The results of this study may change guidelines that recommend BMI as a metric. Researchers said it was important to accurately detect obesity in children.

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How do you measure obesity using waist-to-height ratio?

Obesity rates among 10 and 11-year-olds in the UK have risen sharply during the coronavirus pandemic and have not returned to pre-pandemic levels.

Professor Julian Hamilton-Shield, consultant paediatrician at Bristol Royal Children’s Hospital, said his weight management clinic was now seeing more patients with obesity-related conditions.

Professor Hamilton Shields said: “Levels of obesity are becoming more severe and the complications are becoming more severe.”

“So to be able to figure that out, we need better measures to learn more about people’s health.”

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Professor Julian Hamilton-Shield said rising obesity rates were leading to an increase in health problems.

Between 2019-2020 and 2020-21, the prevalence of overweight and obesity among 10- to 11-year-old sixth-graders rose from 35.2% to 40.9%, with people in poorer areas disproportionately affected. received.

The researchers used BMI data from the government’s National Child Measurement Programme, which measures the weight of around one million sixth-form pupils in England each year.

Body Mass Index (BMI) has long been used as the go-to tool for determining a healthy weight. This is an easy and quick way to check your body fat based on your height and weight.

However, many medical professionals now additionally use the waist-to-height ratio method. This is because BMI does not take into account a person’s body size or muscle mass.

The BMI scale is said to be outdated by some groups because it would place rugby players, for example, in the obese category.

Researchers from the University of Bristol, the University of Exeter and the University of Eastern Finland say they have discovered a potential alternative to BMI, which they say could more accurately measure excess fat mass in children and adolescents.

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Professor Andrew Agbaje from the University of Eastern Finland said BMI is not necessarily an accurate measurement.

Lead author Professor Andrew Agbaje said the waist circumference to height ratio was an inexpensive way to measure excess fat mass and distinguish between muscle mass and fat mass.

Professor Agbaje added: “With just a tape measure, we can identify eight out of ten children who are really overweight. And secondly, we can identify 93 out of 100 children who are not overweight at all, just muscular. It means it can be detected,” he added.

“So, of the people whose BMI would indicate they were overweight and obese, we were able to detect that 93 people who weren’t actually overweight had no problem with fat.”

He said that BMI varies by age and gender, but the waist-to-height ratio remains the same regardless of age and gender.



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