BMI Flashcards
What are the 3 distinct body types?
- Ectomorphic
- Mesomorphic
- Endomorphic
What are Ectomorphs?
- Ectomorphs have slender frames, low body fat and fast metabolisms. They tend to have muscles that are long and thin, especially in the arms and legs
- Many ectomorphs are too thin and have a desire to increase muscle mass and gain weight. They need to consume plenty of daily calories in the form of complex carbohydrates, lean proteins and healthy fats. They also need to follow a good weightlifting program and avoid doing too much aerobic exercise
What are Mesomorphic body types?
- Mesomorphs have lean, muscular bodies with wide shoulders, narrow waists, low body fat and fast metabolisms. They build muscle and lose body fat easily
- Because they’re naturally muscular and low in body fat, mesomorphs often get by with unhealthy diets and infrequent workouts. But even mesomorphs need to eat right and exercise on a regular basis if they want to stay fit and healthy as they age
What are Endomorphic body types?
- Endomorphs have stocky frames, high body fat and slow metabolisms. They store body fat easily and have trouble losing it
- High protein, low to moderate carbohydrate diets often work well for endomorphs. Endomorphs need to do plenty of aerobic exercise to burn calories and reduce body fat. They also need to lift weights to get a better muscle to fat ratio and therefore improve metabolism
What are features of Anthropometrics?
Measurement
- One-off screening
- Trend observation
Data vs Information / Knowledge
- Reference Values
- Calibration
- Standardisation
What are types of measurements?
- Height
- Weight
- BMI
- Skinfold Thickness
- Waist-to-Hip ratio (WHR)
- Mid Upper Arm Circumference (MUAC)
- Ulna length
- Body composition - Bioelectrical impedance
What are features of Height Measurements?
- Difficult to measure, accuracy, large variations
- Differences are small: 24 cm increment in the first year of life, 11 cm second year, 8 third
- Low sensitivity and Large measurement errors
- Stunted versus Stunting
- Stunted is a heterogeneous group
- Stunting is the active process: determinants are acting
- Can be difficult: co-operation of children; ICU etc
What are the features of Weight measurements?
- Usually easy to collect
- Sensitive to changes. Changes in two directions up and down
- Standardisation of scales needed - calibration
- Small changes are difficult to measure: food intake of the child, urine, dehydration, temp, etc: not very specific
- Can be difficult: co-operation of children; ICU etc
What is BMI?
BMI is a measure of relative obesity.
BMI = Weight in kg / Height in m2
What are BMI in Adults?
BMI <18.5 = Under Weight
BMI 18.5-24.9 = Healthy weight range
BMI 25-29.9 = Overweight (grade 1 obesity)
BMI >30-40 = Obese (grade 2 obesity)
BMI >40 = Very obese (‘morbid’ or grade 3 obesity)
What are the BMI categories in Children?
- Underweight = Less than the 5th percentile
- Healthy weight = 5th percentile to less than the 85th percentile
- Overweight = 85th to less than the 95th percentile
- Obese = Equal to or greater than the 95th percentile
What are Limitations of BMI?
BMI is not accurate when there is significantly increased muscle mass or stunting
BMI varies with age (WHO BMI charts for children)
- The amount of body fat changes with age.
- The amount of body fat differs between girls and boys.
- A Better measure is to plot height and weights on growth charts. (WHO centile charts)
What are features of Skinfold Thickness?
- Another measure of body fat.
- Can be measured at a variety of body sites such as Tricep, Bicep, Subscap, Supraspinale, Abdominal, Thigh, Calf
- Ability to predict body fat increases as number of sites measured increases
What are features of Waist-to-Hip ratio (WHR)?
We store spare body fat under the skin, and also around the vital organs in our abdomen. Central Abdominal obesity is a predictor of chronic health risk e.g. T2DM and Cardiovascular disease
WHR is a measure of central obesity. There is increased risk when WHR is:
- >1.0 in Men
- >0.85 in Women
What are features of the Mid Upper Arm Circumference (MUAC) measurement?
- MUAC is the circumference of the left upper arm, measured at the mid-point between the tip of the shoulder and the tip of the elbow (acromium and olecranon processes)
- MUAC is an appropriate indicator for the assessment of acute adult undernutrition
- The indicator is useful for both screening acute adult undernutrition and for estimating prevalence of undernutrition at a population level
- Suggested MUAC cut-off points for moderate and severe acute adult undernutrition
Moderate = <185mm
Severe = <160mm