WHAT IS BMI?
The body mass index (BMI), or Quetelet index, is a heuristic measure of body weight based on a person's weight and height.
Due to its ease of measurement and calculation, it is the most widely used diagnostic tool to identify weight problems within a population, usually whether individuals are underweight, overweight or obese.
It was invented between 1830 and 1850 by the Belgian polymath Adolphe Quetelet during the course of developing "social physics".
BMI is defined as the individual's body weight divided by the square of his or her height. The formulae universally used in medicine produce a unit of measure of kg/m2.
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