Everything about Body mass index

🧭 Start here: a 6-step reading path

1. Read the overview: Body mass indexA 5-minute orientation
2. Skim a recent paper: Strengths and Limitations of BMI in the Diagnosis of Obesity: What is the Path Forward?Influential work since 2022
3. Pick up a classic book: Good Housekeeping Calorie CounterThe most-reprinted book on the subject
4. Read the landmark paper: Waist‐to‐height ratio is a better screening tool than waist circumference and BMI for adult cardiometabolic risk factors: systematic review and meta‐analysisCited 1,833 times
5. Go sideways: Waist-to-height ratioA closely related topic
6. Go sideways: Classification of obesityA closely related topic

🏆 Landmark papers (most cited)

• Waist‐to‐height ratio is a better screening tool than waist circumference and BMI for adult cardiometabolic risk factors: systematic review and meta‐analysis

  M. Ashwell, P. Gunn, S. Gibson · 2011 · Obesity Reviews · 1,833 citations

• Bmi-1 is required for maintenance of adult self-renewing haematopoietic stem cells

  In-kyung Park, Dalong Qian, Mark Kiel · 2003 · Nature · 1,588 citations

• The oncogene and Polycomb-group gene bmi-1 regulates cell proliferation and senescence through the ink4a locus

  Jacqueline J. L. Jacobs, Karin Kieboom, Silvia Marino · 1999 · Nature · 1,355 citations

• Bmi-1 determines the proliferative capacity of normal and leukaemic stem cells

  Julie Lessard, Guy Sauvageau · 2003 · Nature · 1,221 citations

• Association of BMI with overall and cause-specific mortality: a population-based cohort study of 3·6 million adults in the UK

  Krishnan Bhaskaran, Isabel dos-Santos-Silva, David A Leon · 2018 · The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology · 1,133 citations

• Bmi-1 dependence distinguishes neural stem cell self-renewal from progenitor proliferation

  Anna V. Molofsky, Ricardo Pardal, Toshihide Iwashita · 2003 · Nature · 1,091 citations

• Hedgehog Signaling and Bmi-1 Regulate Self-renewal of Normal and Malignant Human Mammary Stem Cells

  Suling Liu, Gabriela Dontu, Ilia D. Mantle · 2006 · Cancer Research · 1,007 citations

• BMI-related errors in the measurement of obesity

  K J Rothman · 2008 · International Journal of Obesity · 953 citations

🆕 Influential since 2022

• Strengths and Limitations of BMI in the Diagnosis of Obesity: What is the Path Forward?

  Katherine Sweatt, W. Timothy Garvey, Catia Martins · 2024 · Current Obesity Reports · 420 citations

• Advantages and Limitations of the Body Mass Index (BMI) to Assess Adult Obesity

  Yilun Wu, Dan Li, Sten H. Vermund · 2024 · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · 366 citations

• Efficacy of GLP-1 Receptor Agonists on Weight Loss, BMI, and Waist Circumference for Patients With Obesity or Overweight: A Systematic Review, Meta-analysis, and Meta-regression of 47 Randomized Controlled Trials

  Hon Jen Wong, Bryan Sim, Yao Hao Teo · 2025 · Diabetes Care · 220 citations

• Beyond BMI

  George A. Bray · 2023 · Nutrients · 218 citations

• Gut microbiota and BMI throughout childhood: the role of firmicutes, bacteroidetes, and short-chain fatty acid producers

  Timothy A. Houtman, Henrik A. Eckermann, Hauke Smidt · 2022 · Scientific Reports · 214 citations

📚 Books worth reading

• Good Housekeeping Calorie CounterGood Housekeeping Institute · 2013
• 📕Printed books and manuscripts including Americana ...Manson & Woods International Inc Christie · 1995
• 📕The Haverlin/BMI Collection of music in the Houghton Library, Harvard UniversityHoughton Library · 1996
• 📕Autographs & manuscripts including American historical manuscripts from the estate of a New England collector and other historical, literary and musical manuscripts; the properties of Alliance Française/The French Institute, the Mary C. Belin Trust, B.M.I. Foundation, Inc., Richard Francis Phillips, Forbes Magazine Collection, Inc., the estates of Hugh Bullock, Joseph F. Fawls, Marvin S. Freilich, M.D., Alan L. WeinerChristie's East (Firm) · 1997
• 📕History of BMI Canada Ltd. and PROCANJan Matejcek · 1996

Ranked by number of editions on Open Library, a rough measure of how lasting a book is.

🔗 Related topics

• Waist-to-height ratio The waist-to-height ratio (WHtR, or WSR: waist-to-stature ratio) is the waist circumference divided by body height, both measured in the same units. WHtR…
• Classification of obesity Obesity classification is a ranking of obesity, the medical condition in which excess body fat has accumulated to the extent that it has an adverse effect…
• Overweight Being overweight is having more body fat than is considered healthy. The World Health Organization (WHO) classifies people as overweight when their body…
• Body roundness index Body roundness index (BRI) is a calculated geometric index used to quantify an aspect of a person's individual body shape. Based on the principle of body…
• Relative fat mass Relative Fat Mass (RFM) is a simple formula for the estimation of overweight or obesity in humans that requires only a calculation based on a ratio of…
• Body shape index A Body Shape Index (ABSI) or simply body shape index (BSI) is a metric for assessing a person's risk of premature death using their height, weight (mass)…
• Obesity paradox The obesity paradox is the finding in some studies of a lower mortality rate for overweight or obese people within certain subpopulations. The paradox…
• Abdominal obesity Abdominal obesity, also known as central obesity and truncal obesity, is the human condition of an excessive concentration of visceral fat around the stomach…