Height and weight, please? That’s typically one of the first questions you get when you walk into any of your healthcare provider’s offices. And they’re most likely using it to calculate your body mass index, or your BMI. But, what was once considered an important  biomarker for assessing our health, BMI doesn’t tell the full picture of your health.  Enter: Newer, more helpful tools like a Prenuvo whole body MRI with a body composition analysis.

“Measurements like BMI and waist to hip ratio are crude, and they fail people, myself included, in many instances,” says Dr. Jason Itri MD, PhD, an award-winning board-certified radiologist, VP of Body Imaging at Prenuvo, and the owner of Longevity Health Clinic in Charlottesville, Virginia. “If you looked at my BMI and my stroke risk calculator, I was considered overweight and my risk of stroke was moderate because of my BMI that didn’t account for my muscle mass,” he adds. 

The skepticism around BMI as a health biomarker is rippling through the medical community. In fact, the American Medical Association released a statement in 2023, emphasizing BMI's limitations and recommending its use only in conjunction with other measures of disease risk.

Read also: Why You Should Be Tracking Your Body Composition

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BMI has big-time limitations

Simply put: BMI doesn’t provide a full enough picture of your health. It’s a calculation of your height and weight, but there’s no visibility into what’s actually going on beneath the surface. How much muscle do you have? Are those muscles symmetrical or are there imbalances? How about fat?   

A recent consensus review published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health suggests that while BMI is valuable for population surveys and primary healthcare screening, it has significant limitations in predicting the risk of chronic diseases and assessing excess fat. BMI also fails to account for differences across race/ethnic groups, genders, and ages. 

“We have patients come in and there’s nothing wrong with their BMI, but we can find out with a body composition scan whether they have an increased amount of visceral fat which means they need to make changes in order to prevent bad health outcomes,” says Dr. Itri. “Visceral fat isn’t just stored fat, it creates inflammation throughout the body, and it contributes to many chronic diseases including heart attack and stroke,” he explains.

You’d know none of this based on your BMI.

Body composition tracking is better‍

A body composition analysis  provides a detailed breakdown of your physical makeup, including fat mass, lean muscle mass, symmetry,   and the size of your abdominal organs, giving you a closer look at what’s happening inside your body. Here’s how body composition tracking beats BMI:

A total muscle volume assessment is a good measurement of health in general. For example, recent research from a three-year study of over 8000 participants published in JAMA Network Open showed that low muscle mass is associated with cognitive decline and may be a risk factor for dementia, particularly in older adults. Research published in the Journal of Nutrition, Health & Aging has also found that decreased fat-free mass and muscle mass are associated with faster cognitive declines, especially in men. Muscle volume is critically important for mobility and overall health   so it’s a great metric to keep tabs on.

A muscle symmetry assessment can help with chronic or recurrent pain issues. Muscular imbalances can lead to chronic pain and increased risk of injury. A body composition scan can identify these imbalances, allowing for targeted interventions to improve symmetry and reduce pain. Athletes and fitness enthusiasts can also use the findings to optimize their training programs.

A total fat assessment can throw up a flag for common health risks. Visceral fat, in particular, is strongly associated with increased risk of heart conditions, metabolic disorders, among many other chronic disease. Studies, like the one published in Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine, found that visceral fat is strongly associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk by creating low-grade inflammation throughout the body. And, a Prenuvo AI-assisted study of over 7,500 participants found that abdominal visceral fat can predict midlife brain atrophy. The good news? Visceral fat responds well to exercise and dietary interventions, says Dr. Itri.

A liver fat analysis can help assess the health of one of our most powerful detoxifying organs. Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is becoming increasingly common and can lead to serious liver damage if left untreated. Body composition scans can detect liver fat accumulation before it becomes visible on traditional imaging and it’s something you can turnaround with exercise, says Dr. Itri. “When you work out, the body releases myokines that are protective throughout the entire body, including the liver, because they reduce inflammation and activate pathways that are anti-aging,” he explains.

An abdominal organ assessment can help flag any abnormalities in size. In addition to looking at the liver, a body composition analysis can look at other organs, like the spleen and kidneys. Enlarged organs can be indicators of various health issues, from infections to more serious conditions like cancer. A body composition analysis can detect these changes early, potentially leading to earlier diagnosis and treatment.

For a deeper dive into this new measurement of health, read our piece on why you should be tracking your body composition. [link to other blog] Or, book a call with your care coordinator to discuss the benefits of a Prenuvo whole body MRI with body composition analysis.    

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