Doctors Explain Why Normal BMI Doesn’t Always Mean Good Health For Indian Women

For decades, Body Mass Index (BMI) has been the go-to tool for judging health and obesity. But new research shows it can be misleading, especially for Indian women. While BMI measures weight against height, it doesn’t account for how fat is distributed. Many women who fall into a “normal" BMI range still carry excess fat around the waist, which can be far more dangerous than the scale suggests.

Why BMI Alone Doesn’t Tell the Whole Story

“What research highlights is a reality we see routinely in clinical practice. BMI in isolation is a poor marker of health, especially in Indian women," explains a Fertility Specialist. “Numerous young women have so-called ‘normal’ BMI but have excess central fat. This central fat is metabolically active and highly linked with insulin resistance, PCOS, irregular menses, and infertility," she adds.

Genetics add to the challenge. Indian women are predisposed to accumulate abdominal fat even at lower weights. Dr. Mehta adds that waist-to-hip ratio, menstrual history, and lifestyle profiling often provide a much clearer picture than BMI alone.

The Hidden Risk of Abdominal Fat

Dr. Anshu Chaturvedi, Head of Dietetics,  points out: “Many young Indian women fall into a ‘normal’ BMI range yet carry fat around their waist and abdomen. That kind of fat is dangerous. It can trigger insulin resistance and increase the risk of PCOS and other metabolic problems, even when weight appears normal."

She stresses the importance of awareness: “Women cannot assume a normal BMI means they are safe. Symptoms like irregular periods, sudden belly fat, or signs of insulin imbalance often matter more than the number on the scale."

Beyond BMI: Smarter Screening

Dr. Parnamita Bhattacharya, Gynaecologist, agrees. “We frequently see cases of abnormal fat accumulation around the waist and upper abdomen, which is linked to insulin resistance, hormonal imbalance, and fertility challenges. A simple waist-to-hip ratio measurement is often more telling than BMI – anything above 0.85 in women should raise concern."

Dr. Mehta says, “For a woman planning pregnancy, it would be unwise to assume that a normal BMI means healthy reproductive potential. Identifying risks early makes a big difference for both fertility and long-term health."

While BMI can provide a rough estimate, it is far from complete. Doctors recommend women pay closer attention to body composition, waist size, and metabolic health markers.

This is only for your information, kindly take the advice of your doctor for medicines, exercises and so on.   

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Warning: These 4 Numbers Can Detect an Unhealthy Heart!

More people die of heart disease each year than any other cause. And while your risk of heart disease depends on some factors that are simply out of your control, such as your age and your family's health history, other risk factors, like smoking and your level of physical activity, are within your grasp and can make a big difference. In fact, according to cardiologist Suzanne Steinbaum, a spokeperson for the American Heart Association's Go Red for Women movement, about 80% of the time, heart disease is preventable. So, when it comes to your heart health what four numbers should you be aware of? To find out where you stand, at your next doctor's appointment be sure to get your blood pressure, blood sugar, blood cholesterol, and body mass index taken, along with some standard blood work. This will provide your doctor with the big-picture. 

Here's what you need to know about these four vital numbers: 

1. Blood Pressure

 What it is: Your blood pressure is defined by the force of blood pressing against your artery walls.

Ideal goal: Aim to have your blood pressure less than 120/80 mm Hg. If your blood pressure marks as 140/90 mm Hg and above, it is defined as high blood pressure, which increases your risk of strokes and heart attacks

2. Blood sugar

What it is: The amount of sugar (or glucose) in your blood, measured by hemoglobin Alc and/or fasting blood glucose tests. 

 

Ideal goal: Aim to have your HbAlc less than 5.7% and fasting glucose less than 126mg/dL. Diabetes is usually diagnosed when HbAlc is 6.5% or higher, while your fasting glucose is 126mg/dL or higher. If your sugar levels are too high they can damage blood vessels, making you susceptible to heart disease. 

 

3. Blood Cholesterol

What it is: A fat-like, waxy substance in the blood. 

 

Ideal goal: Your doctor will be on the look out for four factors: total cholesterol, which should be less than 200mg/dL; tri-glycerides, which should be less than 150mg/dL; 'good' HDL cholesterol, greater than 60mg/dL and 'bad' LDL cholesterol, less than 100mg/dL. Higher levels of cholesterol may block blood flow to the heart. 

 

4. Body Mass Index

What it is: A measure of body fat calculated using your height and weight. 

 

Ideal goal: 18.5 to 24.9 A BMI of 25 and above is considered to be overweight, while 30 and above is considered to be obese. In such instances, your risk for heart disease is increased.

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10 diet myths overturned in the past decade, from 'fat makes you fat' to 'supplements are harmless'

Nutrition advice is constantly changing, with competing, and even contradictory, recommendations appearing from reputable sources.

The past 10 years have led to major shifts in what we know about healthy eating, and how we think about nutrition, diets, and food. 

Here are some of the biggest nutrition and diet myths that were dispelled in the last decade.


Myth: Eating fat makes you fat.

Butter and other high-fat foods are calorie-dense, but don't automatically lead to weight gain. 

The low-fat diet craze may have had it's heyday in the late 1990s, but the myth that fat is bad for you or leads to weight gain persisted well into the 2000s and beyond.

But the past few years have shown that "lite" versions of popular products are actually worse for your health, increasing the risk of heart disease and other ailments previously linked to high-fat foods. 

Now the trend has swung in the opposite direction, with high-fat diets like keto more popular than ever and carbohydrates, particularly sugar, now vilified as causes of obesity and illness.

Plenty of high-fat foods are perfectly healthy. However, fat is still more calorie-dense than either carbs or protein, so it can have mixed effects on weight loss.

In addition, the type of fat matters, since saturated fats are linked to more risks of heart disease and other illnesses than unsaturated fat. The long-term effects of high-fat, low-carb diets aren't yet well understood.

Experts still recommend a balance of fat, protein, and carbs for an optimal diet.


Myth: Diets or detoxes are the best way to lose weight.

You don't need to detox, since your body has a natural system of doing that for you, thanks to your liver and kidneys. 

From juice cleanses and fad diets to dubious "flat belly tea" and other too-good-to-be-true products, detoxes for weight loss and wellness were a major trend appearing to finally wind down at the end of this decade.

Research has consistently found that extreme, quick-fix diet plans don't work and aren't good for your health long-term. Instead, the best strategies are healthy, sustainable changes made gradually over time, as part of a lifestyle you can stick to in the long run.

Particularly for young people, strict or overzealous diets can also cause disordered eating and other mental health issues.

And the pseudoscience claims of various cleansing techniques aren't proven to work, and may hurt.

"We each have a liver and kidneys to do that job without needing a detox diet that is, in most cases, inadequately balanced and lacking in so many important nutrients," registered dietitian Bonnie Taub Dix previously told Insider.

Myth: Grazing, or eating small meals frequently, is the healthiest eating pattern.
The old advice: Eat small, frequent meals to fuel your metabolism, lose weight, and sustain energy.

The new rage: Try intermittent fasting, or limiting all of your daily meals to a strict time period. Depending on the style of fasting, this may mean eating just 10 hours to 16 hours a day, or it could mean eating normally five days of the week but abstaining from food entirely the other two days.

There's evidence that a bit of fasting every once in a while may be good for the gut, prevent inflammation, and even help overweight people lose belly fat.

At the same time, growing concern about processed foods have made people wary of most convenient snack foods, like chips and candy bars. Even granola bars and yogurt can pack a lot of sugar with few nutritional benefits. 

"I would encourage everyone to revisit this snacking thing, like is there a way we can eat differently?" cancer researcher Dr. Miriam Merad said in August when her own study on fasting was released. "Maybe eating two times a day would be entirely sufficient and very beneficial, in fact, in terms of health."

Still, intermittent fasting isn't for everyone, and some people may be vulnerable to taking it too far.  

Myth: Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.
While there good evidence showing that front-loading your calories is more beneficial for weight loss than eating that same amount in the evening, it may not be the best strategy for everyone.

If, for instance, you're following the trendy intermittent fasting plan which promotes fasting for 16 hours a day and eating during the remaining 8, your first meal not come until lunchtime or later.

And some people simply may not be hungry in the morning, said  a registered dietitian .

"The truth is, eat when you're hungry and stop when you're full," she previously told Insider. "We are bombarded by external food cues. Learning when your individual body is hungry and full is hugely important to your health."

There's also evidence that if you're looking to lose weight, putting off breakfast until after a morning run or other exercise could be best for burning fat. 

Myth: A calorie is a calorie.
Calories count, but the micronutrients and other components of foods are a major factor in how they affect our health.

Nutrition used to be thought of as a simple balancing act of calories — eat fewer to lose weight, eat too many and you'll gain weight.

But a growing number of studies have shown it's more complicated than that, since vitamins, minerals, fiber, and other factors all play a crucial role in our health.

Certain foods like leafy greens and other fresh produce can have a beneficial effect on the good bacteria in our gut, which can lead to a lower risk of diseases, weight loss, and other health benefits, even if you don't eat fewer total calories.

On the other end of the grocery aisle, newer research suggests that processed foods may be worse for us than just having too many calories.

In May, nutrition experts at the National Institutes of Health uncovered some of the first evidence that the way our bodies take in processed, ready-to-eat, and ready-to-heat foods can drive us to eat as many as 500 additional calories a day, increasing risk of obesity and related illness.
 
Myth: BMI is a an accurate marker of health.
Body mass index, or BMI, a measure of weight relative to height, was originally intended for statistical, not individual, purposes, but became the standard method used to define who's a "healthy" weight versus who's "overweight" or "obese."

Over the past decade, though, exercise scientists, doctors, and other experts have come to realize that's a problem. BMI doesn't specifically measure excess body fat, nor does it account for factors like age and muscle mass, which are crucial to health. This means that people like elite athletes can be defined as obese based on high BMI, even if they're at peak health.

"It's just a measure of weight to height, not a measure of health," a certified personal trainer,  told Insider.

Now the field is looking toward other ways of determining baseline markers of health. One such alternative is waist circumference, since many of the negative health affects of obesity are linked to high levels of abdominal fat. Several studies have documented a link between high amounts of abdominal fat and an increased risk of heart disease and diabetes, for example.

Others argue that health shouldn't be based on weight, body fat, or body shape at all, and really on health behaviors like physical activity, mental health care, and sleep.

Myth: Vegetarian food is always healthier.
Meat substitutes have made it possible to create vegetarian and even vegan versions of fast food, but that doesn't make them healthy.

Although there's a growing trend of people cutting back on meat or eliminating animal products entirely for their health, vegetarian doesn't necessarily mean healthier.

More and more research suggests that the most nutritious way to eat is less about specific dietary restrictions and more about getting plenty of whole, unprocessed foods.

Recent research on Blue Zones, areas of the world where people live the longest, has found that what seems to be most important is a diet high in healthy fats from things like nuts, olive oil, and seafood, and fiber from veggies and legumes.

Plenty of junk foods are already free of animal products, but are high in calories, processed fats, and refined sugars with few nutrients.

For instance, this year KFC joins the growing list of fast food companies offering meatless options, but their fried "chicken" isn't, nutritionally speaking, any better for you than the traditional version.

"Processed foods, whether they're meat-based or plant-based, aren't a nutritional need in our diet, especially when they involve low-quality oils,"  a board-certified and registered dietitian, previously told Insider.

Myth: Everyone should take vitamin supplements.

Extra vitamins probably won't hurt you, but if you're already eating a balanced diet, they may be a waste of money. 

Although not all supplements are the same, research has increasingly shown that for most people, taking vitamins D, vitamin E, calcium, iron, and multivitamins is unnecessary.

A recent meta-analysis, for instance, found that people who were taking vitamin D supplements didn't have a decreased risk of heart disease, stroke, or heart attack, nor were they any less likely to die of any cause.

Other supplements, including vitamins C and E, haven't been proven to be beneficial, despite anecdotes that they can boost your immune system or otherwise improve your well-being.

It's clear there's no substitute for eating whole foods, which contain a wealth of other micronutrients like polyphenols that supplements don't. These compounds are linked to health benefits like lower blood pressure, reduced risk of disease, and a longer life expectancy. 

"[Whole foods] are accompanied by many nonessential but beneficial nutrients, such as hundreds of carotenoids, flavonoids, minerals, and antioxidants that aren't in most supplements," Clifford Lo, an associate professor of nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health, said in a recent blog post.
 
Myth: Artificial sweeteners are better for you than regular sugar.

Despite the popularity of diet sodas, sugar substitutes like aspartame aren't any healthier than the real thing. 

It's clear why we're drawn to the idea of diet soda, candy, and other items that are sweet without sugar: They're calorie free.

But, unfortunately, research suggests they may not be any better for you than regular sugar in terms of causing liver and kidney problems, high blood pressure, and weight gain.

A study of more than 450,000 people across 10 European countries in the journal Jama Internal Medicine suggests that drinking two or more sweet-tasting beverages a day — whether they're filled with real sugar or imitation low- and no-calorie versions of sweetness — is linked with more early deaths, and more deadly heart issues. The finding held true even in people who maintained a healthy weight. 

Still, there's inconsistent evidence that artificial sweeteners are downright dangerous. Despite fears that aspartame and others are linked to cancer, extensive research (including more than 100 studies) has suggested they are safe.

Studies hinting otherwise have been mainly on mice and insects, meaning there's little evidence to support those claims in humans.

Myth: More protein is always better.
Relying too heavily on protein shakes and supplements could be doing you more harm than good. 

Protein has become an increasingly favored macronutrient, touted for its muscle-building, fat-burning potential. As a result, people are adding it into everything from cookies to coffee.

But protein, by itself, is just a nutrient. In order to build muscle or burn fat, you have to also be going to the gym or otherwise using your body to encourage tissue repair and growth. And protein still contains calories, so too much of it, without exercise, can cause you to gain weight instead of adding lean muscle mass.

Most people, especially Americans, get plenty of protein from their diets without a supplement. It only takes about 0.5 to 0.7 grams per pound of body weight for sedentary people to meet their daily recommended intakes. That's around 62 to 88 grams of daily protein for a 125-pound person; a roasted chicken breast already gets you more than halfway there.

Athletes may need a little more, but anything beyond about 1 gram per pound of body weight a day can actually have negative effects on your health, causing dehydration and kidney stress.

Some protein bars, shakes, and products can also be high in sugar and other unwanted additives, so pay close attention to labeling if you still decide to use protein supplements.


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Intermittent fasting was the hottest diet trend of 2019, according to Google. Here's what else topped the list.

Nutrition myths that we stopped believing in 2019, including the carnivore diet and 'superfoods'

I lost 5 pounds in 30 days trying the trendy Whole30 diet. Here's why I still wouldn't recommend it.
 This is only for your information, kindly take the advice of your doctor for medicines, exercises and so on.     

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Obesity at younger age? Bariatric surgery may help

Researchers have found that surgical treatment of obesity is as effective for individuals who developed the disorder early, by the age of 20, as for those who have developed obesity later in life.

The results, published in the journal Diabetes Care, are based on data from the Swedish Obese Subjects (SOS) study.

For the fndings, the researchers covered a total of 4,026 adult individuals who had developed obesity. Half of them had undergone bariatric surgery and the other half were a control group.

“We were somewhat surprised at the results. Since the group that had already developed obesity by the age of 20 had been exposed to obesity and its risks for longer periods, we’d expected that bariatric surgical treatment in these participants would be less effective in terms of weight loss and obesity-related sequelae than in the other group. But it wasn’t like that,” said study researcher Johanna Andersson Assarsson from University of Gothenburg in Sweden.

Each of the groups was divided into three subgroups, based on the participants’ body mass index (BMI) at age 20: those of normal weight, those who were overweight, and those with obesity.
The researchers then investigated whether there was any difference in the effects of bariatric treatment for obesity among those who had developed the disorder before age 20, compared with those who developed it later in life.

“On the contrary, the group with obesity at age 20 lost a little bit more weight after the operation, and there was no difference in effects on diabetes or its complications, cardiovascular disease or cancer, compared with individuals who developed obesity later in life,” Assarsson said.

According to the researchers, for many diseases, early treatment is advantageous, but individuals with early-onset obesity have often had their disorder for a long time before bariatric surgery is considered.

It has sometimes been speculated that bariatric surgical treatment would be less effective in these individuals because of their longer exposure to the adverse health effects of obesity.

“Here, we show that’s not the case. And we think it’s important that this information reaches people considering bariatric surgery for obesity and also health professionals who treat patients with obesity,” Assarsson said.

This is only for your information, kindly take the advice of your doctor for medicines, exercises and so on.     

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Weight loss versus inch loss: What's the difference?

Trying to lose weight?

A healthy weight loss plan includes both diet and exercise. Exercising regularly helps you burn calories, tone loose muscles and gain muscle mass. However, there are times when you might feel like you have dropped a dress size, but still, the weighing scale shows the same number. This does not mean you are doing something wrong or have not lost weight. You have lost your inches and are on your way towards achieving your weight loss goal.

What's the difference?

Inch loss means losing inches from around typical areas of fat storage like waist, hips and thighs. When you lose fat, you will first notice changes in these specific body parts. Losing inches from your midsection is especially challenging if you have a bulging belly. High waist circumference is due to excess fat accumulation, which can affect your heart and other organs, increasing the risk of heart attack and type 2 diabetes.

When you are performing strength training exercises, you not only lose fat but start gaining muscle mass. Muscles are compact and firm, but fat is not. This is the reason why you might have lost inches from your midsection, but the changes are not visible on the scale.

This does not mean your weight loss program has failed. In fact, inch loss is considered as a healthier way of losing weight. If you only want to lose weight, rather than building muscles then focus on cardiovascular exercise instead of strength training.

The right way to measure your weight

If you aim to get healthy and fit, then don't depend on your weighing scale. It is not the absolute way to determine the ideal weight as per your height and age. Measuring the Body Mass Index (BMI), waist-to-height ratio, body fat percentage and waist-to-hip ratio are more appropriate ways to know your healthy weight.

The bottom line

Your focus should be on attaining a healthy weight and not just losing weight. It is a common misconception that thin people are healthy, but it is not true. Loss of inch is a sign that your exercise and diet plan is working perfectly.

This is only for your information, kindly take the advice of your doctor for medicines, exercises and so on.     
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