ABSTRACT
Obesity can be defined as an excessive amount of body fat, leading to physical ill-health or adverse effects on socioeconomic or psychological well-being. Obesity is thought to result from a combination of environmental and genetic factors. There are several methods for estimating body fatness in adults; these include total body weight, waist circumference and hip circumference. Several indices of obesity have been derived from these measurements, including body mass index (BMI), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), abdominal volume index (AVI), abdominal visceral adiposity (measured by magnetic resonance imaging) and body fat content. However, BMI is the most widely used index of body fatness in relation to body weight and height. BMI is defined as the weight (in kilograms) divided by the square of the height (in meters).
