https://www.sciencenews.org/article/healthy-weight-bmi-overweight
Weight presents a "J" shaped curve in terms of overall mortality. The heavier you are, the higher your risk factor, but under a certain weight, it also goes up. The question is where is the nadir for risk of dying? One would think that it is squarely in the "normal" weight BMI, but it may not be.
Excerpted from the Science News piece above.
A reminder on where the reference ranges are from a post on CDC.gov:
- If your BMI is less than 18.5, it falls within the underweight range.
- If your BMI is 18.5 to <25, it falls within the healthy weight range.
- If your BMI is 25.0 to <30, it falls within the overweight range. [The BMI with the lowest hazard ratio in the Danish study was in this range]
- If your BMI is 30.0 or higher, it falls within the obesity range.
Obesity is frequently subdivided into categories:
- Class 1: BMI of 30 to < 35
- Class 2: BMI of 35 to < 40
- Class 3: BMI of 40 or higher. Class 3 obesity is sometimes categorized as “severe” obesity.
