The body mass index, or BMI, predates the bathroom scale by more than half a century. But it has not changed with the times. The BMI was created in the 1830s before calculators and computers existed.

If you've ever stood on a scale at the doctor's office only to be told your health status based on a single number, you're ...

A study found that Americans today are less likely to recognize overweight status than they were in previous decades, suggesting that social norms around body size have shifted. This normalization can ...

New research points to a better way to measure obesity than body mass index. Body mass index was first developed in 1832 and has been the standard way to estimate a person’s body fat since the 1980s.

Alice Bullas receives funding from UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship Scheme, for a project on 'evaluation of body measurement methods for children living with obesity'. She is affiliated with the ...