From Ursula Arens, London, UK
The critiques of BMI have long cited the scores of professional rugby players, who typically exceed 30, due to high muscularity rather than excess fat tissue. But busy clinics need quick and easy assessments, and visible muscularity should allow sensible edits to possible guidance to lose weight. The pragmatic system of BMI and waist-to-height ratio scores is fully adequate for starter conversations in clinics. Further considerations of health risks can then be assessed to support individual guidance (14 February, p 28).
