Health Matters! Healthy Bodies, Healthy Minds

In many countries, there are cultural pressures for people, especially women, to be slim. People may try to lose weight even though they are in the normal weight range for their height or only slightly overweight.

Severe weight loss may lead to development of an eating disorder, e.g. anorexia nervosa or bulimia.

Measuring body weight

Comparing weight relative to height is a quick and easy way of finding out if someone is a healthy weight for their height.

A useful way to judge if a person is overweight or obese is to calculate their body mass index (BMI). BMI should only be used for adults, i.e. after 18 years of age when growth has stopped.