Body mass index (BMI) is a rough proxy for body composition widely used to predict a person's risk of poor health outcomes, including early death — but BMI is an unreliable metric that does not actually predict risk of death, new research suggests.
The study, published June 24 in the journal Annals of Family Medicine, found that BMI could not reliably predict mortality risk from any cause. However, body fat percentage, an alternative measure of body composition, was found to be far more accurate, showing a clear correlation to individuals' risk of death.
