New Body Mass Index Calculator for Southeast Asia
Calculate your body mass index value.
Important Information
This calculator has been specifically catered towards individuals with an ethnic background originating within the region of Southeast Asia. This is because the World Health Organization (WHO) has different recommendations on body mass index value interpretation and the scale used.
Other specific calculators exist for Hong Kong and Japan for the same reasons. For all other ethnical regions, you should use the standard calculator.
Calculated Result
The result will be displayed below, with the answer given in kilograms per square meter (kg/m²).
The indicator below will change position depending on the calculated body mass index value.
The body mass index value can be interpreted as follows:
- 18.4 and below — underweight;
- 18.5 – 22.9 — healthy weight;
- 23.0 – 27.4 — moderately overweight;
- 27.5 and above — obese;
Important Information Regarding the Limitations of the Body Mass Index (BMI) Value
The body mass index (BMI) value is a reasonable indicator of overall body health, but it must be understood that it's merely one datapoint, and the human body is an incredibly complex structure.
Here are just some of the limitations of the body mass index value:
- As muscle tissue is approximately 15% more dense than fatty tissue, the body mass index formula will produce higher values for individuals with higher-than-average muscle mass;
- The original body mass index formula uses an exponent of 2, which doesn't align with the square-cube law of scaling three-dimensional objects. The new body mass index formula, used by this calculator, aims to address this pitfall with an exponent of 3, but may still be somewhat inaccurate as the human body grows disproportionately more vertically versus laterally throughout childhood;
- Due to the aforementioned limitations of accurate scaling, this formula is also highly likely to overestimate (give a higher than desired value) for taller frames, and underestimate (give a lower than desired value) for shorter frames;
- Individuals receiving treatment for an eating disorder shouldn't use this value as a meaningful datapoint;
- This value historically hasn't been a good indicator for an increased risk in potentially life-threatening conditions, such as heart attack or stroke, or indeed death itself.
By no means should this value be solely relied upon, and treated as a substitute for seeking professional medical advice. If you're concerned about your health, seek advice from medically trained professionals.
Tool History
Revisions made to this tool will be documented below, organized by date in descending order.
Thursday, September 15, 2022
- Initial release.