East and South Asians skinniest on fat planet

[kikiandlala]

Happy for us, sad for the planet. Still, take this article with a grain of salt.
The US and New Zealand do not show up on the charts shown.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7057951.stm

[taijian]

I read somewhere that the WHO has lowered the BMI threshold for asians (for some reason or other). Seems a BMI of 23 or above is considered overweight for asians now. The article didn't make any mention of that though.

[kikiandlala]

I believe the change in the BMI index for Asians, is from how they tend to have fat deposit around the belly area and this is more dangerous to your heart than the fat collected on your butt or chest. Developing a bit of a gut was the reason, I went to a fitness trainer and got the fitness assessment done.

[ktkbs]

East, South, and Southeast Asians all deposit fat differently. East Asians have it spread more evenly, while South Asians tend to have it around their bellies and are more sexually dimorphic in their fat distribution (fat on buttocks for women, belly for men). Southeast Asians are in the middle.

But it does take less weight for all of them to be at a healthy weight.