Modelling the relationship between body fat and the BMI.

OBJECTIVE: Given the increasing concerns about the levels of obesity being reached throughout the world, this paper analyses the relationship between the most common index of obesity, the BMI, and levels of body fat. RESEARCH METHODS AND PROCEDURES: The statistical relationship, in terms of functional form, between body fat and BMI is analysed using a large data set which can be categorized by race, sex and age. RESULTS: Irrespective of race, body fat and BMI are linearly related for males, with age entering logarithmically and with a positive effect on body fat. Caucasian males have higher body fat irrespective of age, but African American males' body fat increases with age faster than that of Asians and Hispanics. Age is not a significant predictor of body fat for females, where the relationship between body fat and BMI is nonlinear except for Asians. Caucasian females have higher predicted body fat than other races, except at low BMIs, where Asian females are predicted to have the highest body fat. DISCUSSION: Using BMIs to make predictions about body fat should be done with caution, as such predictions will depend upon race, sex and age and can be relatively imprecise. The results are of practical importance for informing the current debate on whether standard BMI cut-off values for overweight and obesity should apply to all sex and racial groups given that these BMI values are shown to correspond to different levels of adiposity in different groups.