Why is controlling my weight so important?
To calculate your BMI (Body Mass Index measured in kg/m²), divide your weight in kilograms by your height squared in metres.
A healthy BMI for an Asian should be below 23 kg/m². A healthy BMI should be below 25 kg/m² for people of African, Black American, Caucasian, Middle Easterner and Latin American descent. A lower BMI of 23 kg/m² is used for people of “Other” ethnicity in which there is no scientifically validated data, and the lower BMI of 23 kg/m² may overestimate the risk of disease. Please see section “Do I have a risk of developing diabetes?”. One study from the American Diabetes Prevention Programme found that losing one kilogram of bodyweight reduced the risk of diabetes by 16%. Losing bodyweight has been shown to reverse prediabetes and return blood glucose levels to normal.
REFERENCES
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Hamman, R. F., Wing, R. R., Edelstein, S. L., Lachin, J. M., Bray, G. A., Delahanty, L., Hoskin, M., Kriska, A. M., Mayer-Davis, E. J., Pi-Sunyer, X., Regensteiner, J., Venditti, B., & Wylie-Rosett, J. (2006). Effect of weight loss with lifestyle intervention on risk of diabetes. Diabetes care, 29(9), 2102–2107. https://doi.org/10.2337/dc06-0560
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Hsu, W. C., Araneta, M. R., Kanaya, A. M., Chiang, J. L., & Fujimoto, W. (2015). BMI cut points to identify at-risk Asian Americans for type 2 diabetes screening. Diabetes care, 38(1), 150–158. https://doi.org/10.2337/dc14-2391