Which of these people is obese? To most of us it is obvious that the person on the left is obese. But did you realise that this top sports performer is also classified as obese. At a height of 178 cm and a weight of 109 kg, Kylie Leuluai from Leeds Rhinos rugby league team has a body mass index (BMI) of 34.4. BMI is a common measure of obesity. It takes into account body composition and is an indication of height to weight ratio. An individual is considered obese when his or her BMI is above 30. However, the case of Leuluai highlights one of the problems in defining obesity. Measuring height to weight ratio does not take into account muscle mass and this casts uncertainty on the accurate measurement of obesity.
BMI values vary according to source but Table 1 is representative of most literature.
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