Research
Energy balance
BMI is a poor index for assessing body composition and obesity risk in children because it does not distinguish between lean mass and fat mass.
Do not rely solely on BMI to assess body fatness, especially in children. It does not distinguish between muscle and fat. More sophisticated measures are needed for accurate assessment.
StrongRefutesVERY_HIGH confidence
BMI is therefore a poor outcome in epidemiological research investigating the possible programming of body composition and obesity. BMI also fails to reflect body shape and hence fat distribution...
Why this rating
Supported by multiple figures and references showing the wide range of fat mass for a given BMI.
Source
Programming of body composition by early growth and nutrition
Jonathan C. K. Wells et al. · Proceedings of The Nutrition Society · 2007
DOI 10.1017/s0029665107005691
narrative_reviewCited 439×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
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