Sök artiklar i SveMed+

Tidskrift

Sammanfattning

Adults Danes have over the past 5 decades become more and more overweight and obese, and recent data suggests that about 60% of adult men and towards 50% of adult women have a BMI > 25 kg/m2. However, BMI is a measure of relative overweight rather than a real measure of obesity, and active and muscular individuals are generally misplaced as overweight or obese when assessed for their obesity using BMI. Other methods are available that measure fat, and this paper provides reference values and development in body fat mass and body fat% measured by validated Bio-impedance for adult Danes aged 35-65 years. Measures were taken late 1980s and again mid 1990s and show that the gain in fat and fat % was larger than expected during the period. For children in Denmark, the development in BMI, but not fat mass, is measured for all school age children as they enter and leave school. However, with the removal of the annual height and weight measures among school children, an initial excessive weight gain among normal weight children can no longer routinely be discovered, hampering primary prevention initiatives. Dentists are present at most Danish Schools and see school children regularly. Using these visits for regular height and weight measurements would provide an excellent opportunity at low cost to reintroduce the annual measurements.

MeSH