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Others say that the health risks associated with a high BMI decrease with age, so that it is not an appropriate health indicator for older people. Increasingly, experts are reporting that alternative calculations, such as waist circumference or waist-to-hip ratio, should be used as more accurate predictors of a person's risk of developing serious health problems.
That's because the focus for these calculations is on where the excess body fat is actually being stored -- the argument being that fat located on the hips, for instance, is not as bad for you as fat located around the stomach.
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These arguments notwithstanding, BMI is nevertheless a useful, if imprecise, indicator of general health. With the World Health Organization estimating that at least a third of the world's adult population is overweight, and nearly a tenth is obese, the importance of finding and maintaining a healthy lifestyle is being brought more and more to the forefront.
