Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment NHS England has made of the accuracy and effectiveness of the traditional BMI test in determining levels of obesity in adults.

NHS England has not made an independent assessment of the accuracy and effectiveness of Body Mass Index (BMI) in determining overweight and obesity in adults.

Public Health England and NHS England support the implementation of expert guidance on the use of BMI provided by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). Currently, NICE recommends that BMI is used routinely by healthcare professionals to assess obesity in adults and children.

NICE recommends the use of additional validated obesity measures, such as waist circumference, to be undertaken alongside BMI when assessing overweight and obesity in individuals to give more detailed assessment of an individual’s health risk.