You probably have heard of the BMI, but what about the BRI?
Images: Alainn Clinic, Getty
Body Mass Index (BMI) has long been used to assess whether an individual has a healthy weight in relation to their height. While it is a simple and widely recognized tool, BMI does not differentiate between muscle and fat. This often leads to misleading results, especially for athletes. For example, athletes may have a high BMI due to muscle mass, but they are not necessarily overweight or obese.
Chart: ResearchGate/Saleem Ansari
Body Roundness Index (BRI), a newer metric, aims to address some of these limitations. BRI takes into account body shape and distribution of fat, which makes it more accurate for predicting health risks associated with body fat, such as heart disease or diabetes. BRI provides a better representation of body composition compared to BMI, especially for individuals with more muscle mass.
For athletes and those with higher muscle content, BRI may be a more reliable measure of health since it factors in body roundness and fat distribution, giving a clearer picture than BMI’s height-to-weight ratio alone.
