Maybe but have to agree with 007 here - BMI is terrible. Super fit bodybuilders can flag as obese and skinny people with a lot of visceral fat are not flagged at all. It may take 30 or 40 lbs of subcutaneous fat to have negative affects on an otherwise healthy person but as little as 5-6 lbs of visceral fat on a skinny person can be a lot more detrimental, Even worse as little as 1 lb of fat in the liver can be very, very bad. With all the crap young kids are eating these days we are starting to see children with fatty liver disease today. Previously this was mostly confined to alcoholics and was just called Fatty Liver Disease but now with kids getting affected it is called Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).

Conversely there are some very thick folks out there who are "protected" health wise even though if you looked at them you would think they were in serious trouble.

Bottom line - IRT to health the fatter someone is generally the more health issues they will have but some skinny looking people are just as unhealthy.

PSA - anyone over 50 or over 40 with a family history of cardiovascular disease should get a simple calcium score test. Very cheap and available at most labs. It can be a very effective early warning that you need to change your lifestyle.

Scoop