BMI may be inadequate as measure of exercise success

A child's body mass index (BMI) may be of little use as a measure of the success of exercise targets, new research suggests.

A study in the Archives of Disease in Childhood monitored 113 boys and 99 girls from 54 schools, recording their weekly physical activity levels, weight, insulin resistance, blood fat and cholesterol levels, and blood pressure between the ages of five and eight.

The researchers found that levels of physical activity varied widely, with some children being active for over 90 minutes a day while others did less than ten minutes of moderate-intensity exercise.


Around 42 per cent of boys met the 60-minute UK guideline, compared to just 11 per cent of girls.

However, the researchers found that there was no significant difference in BMI between those children who met the guidelines and those who did not.

Lead researcher Professor Terry Wilkin, of the Peninsula Medical School, told the BBC: 'BMI just doesn't pick up any differences in children - it's just not a sufficiently sensitive measure.'

The professor added that changing children's diets may be a more viable modifiable factor than changing their overall amount of exercise.

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