Healthy body fat percentage ranges based on body mass index
This abstract was presented at a scientific meeting, and reproduced on the Tanita Corporation website1. I also reproduce it here because the presentation contained the interesting data in the table below, showing the Body Fat Percentages that occur at a BMI of 25 kg/m2.
| Women | Age | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| BMI | 20-39 yrs | 40-59 yrs | 60-79 yrs |
| 18.5 | 20.5% | 21.3% | 22.1% |
| 25.0 | 35.0% | 35.8% | 36.6% |
| 30.0 | 41.9% | 42.7% | 32.5% |
| Men | Age | ||
|
BMI |
20-39 yrs | 40-59 yrs | 60-79 yrs |
| 18.5 | 8.5% | 10.2% | 11.9% |
| 25.0 | 21.2% | 22.9% | 24.5% |
| 30.0 | 27.2% | 28.9% | 30.5% |
It is generally accepted than Men’s "Overweight" threshold occurs at 25% body fat (and above). So notice that when BMI = 25 in the table, the body fat % values are significantly lower than 25%. This is evidence that a BMI overweight threshold for men, should be higher than 25 kg/m2.
Women’s "Overweight" threshold is less well established, but 33% body fat is commonly used. So, notice that when BMI = 25 in the table, women’s body fat % values are already higher than 33%. This is evidence that a BMI overweight threshold for women, should be lower than 25 kg/m2.
References
- http://www.tanita.com/professional/abstracts/abstract_7.html
- Taylor RW1, Jones IE, Williams SM, Goulding A. Body fat percentages measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry corresponding to recently recommended body mass index cutoffs for overweight and obesity in children and adolescents aged 3-18 y. Am J Clin Nutr. 2002 Dec;76(6):1416-21.
For unknown reasons, after I published this page in its revamped form at the end of 2014, Google wouldn’t index it. So I’ve added a few extra authority links, and removed the h3 tags that used to be here, in case it was over-optimized and now I’m adding this paragraph. So although this page is truly about body fat, it’s also a test about the effect of making the changes just mentioned. Neat eh?
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