Research
Macro partitioning
Asian and Hispanic populations have a higher risk of type 2 diabetes and hypertension at lower BMIs compared to Caucasians.
If you are Asian or Hispanic, your risk for diabetes and heart disease starts at a lower weight than the standard 'obese' BMI. Aim for a lower BMI (around 21-23) and monitor waist circumference, not just the scale.
GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
It was soon evident, however, that the optimum population body mass index is about 21 and this is particularly true in Asia and Latin America where the populations are very prone to developing abdominal obesity, type 2 diabetes and hypertension.
Why this rating
Based on cohort studies and ROC analyses cited in the paper.
Source
The epidemiology of obesity: the size of the problem
W. P. T. James · Journal of Internal Medicine · 2008
DOI 10.1111/j.1365-2796.2008.01922.x
narrative_reviewCited 791×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
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