New study finds BMI unreliable for predicting body fat percentage in teens.
The researchers studied how body mass index (BMI) relates to body fat percentage (BF%) in Brazilian adolescents. They found that BMI can be a good predictor of BF%, with a variability of only 6.49%. However, the current categories used to determine nutritional status based on BMI are not accurate for this population. New guidelines are needed to better assess the health of children and teens in this region.