NUTRITIONAL CORRELATES OF BODY MASS INDEX

The subject nutritional status and its assessment has global importance. The search for appropriate methods and techniques is a continuous and dynamic process. All the efforts in this direction are oriented towards going closer to the truth. A true assessment of the nutritional status of community/individual is of great value in offering protection from acute ill-effects and the permanent damages consequent to the suffering of malnutrition. Body Mass Index (BMI) is being accepted as a tool to discriminate the different states such as Normal Chronic Energy Deficiency (CED) obesity and degrees of malnutrition such as mild moderate and severe forms on a continuum. While it is a simple inexpensive rapid assessment indicator of nutritional status derived from weight and height measurements due to wide variations in stature and body composition and in the absence of scientific background knowledge there is a possibility of misinterpretation of the BMI data. The present investigation conducted among rural women is an attempt towards understanding BMI in relation to other select nutritional status parameters. Presently the proposed cut-off values of BMI are being used universally to differentiate different degrees of malnutrition. I