….identifying the location and type of body fat provides valuable information — perhaps better than that from body mass index (BMI), a current tool that calculates body fat based on weight and height.
“This study supports a growing body of literature demonstrating that adipose tissue imaging provides important information about cardiovascular risk not contained in the measurement of BMI alone,” said Dr. Ian Neeland. He is an assistant professor of cardiology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas and co-author of an accompanying journal editorial.
Abdominal tissue scanning is emerging as a new way to assess heart disease risk and address many of the limitations of the simple BMI measurement, Neeland said. “It may be time to retire the BMI in favor of these novel adipose tissue deposits in clinical and research practice,” he added.
For more about heart disease, visit the American Heart Association.