Advantages of using BMI for age for

assessment of nutritional status in Indian children

NORMAL
CHILD
WASTED
CHILD
SHORT
CHILD
SHORT
AND
WASTED
CHILD

Children who are normal in height can have
Normal BMI
Low BMI
High BMI

Children who are short can have
Normal BMI
Low BMI
High BMI
Normal height
normal BMI

Children who are tall can have
Normal BMI
Low BMI
High BMI
Normal height
normal BMI
Children with normal BMI can be normal in height , tall
or short
Children 1, 2 & 3 have low BMI. Children with low BMI can have
normal height , be tall or short . They all require additional energy
intake to ensure that they continue in their linear growth trajectory
1.Normal
height
2.Short
3.Tall
4 Normal
height &
BMI
All these children have high BMI. Children with
high BMI can have normal height , be tall or short
They all require adequate physical activity to reach
normal BMI
To sum up
A third of Indian children are born with low birth
weight and length. Birth weight and length are
important determinants of growth in childhood
Over the next two years there is further increase in
underweight and stunting rates. About half of Indian
children are short by current WHO norms. After
first 2 years reversal of stunting is difficult.
Weight for age picks up lean children who are
normal in height or those who are short and lean but
misses tall lean children. Use of BMI for age helps
us to pick up and provide additional food to all
leanchildren irrespective of their height so that they
continue to grow in their current height trajectory .
India has entered dual nutrition burden era; if weight for
age is used as the criterion, many short children who are
overweight for their height will be missed.
BMI for age will pick up all children who are over weight for
their height and appropriate interventions initiated
Thus BMI for age is an index that enables early detection
of both under and over nutrition in children because it takes
into account the current age, gender, weight and height
for assessment of nutritional status.
In Indian context of high stunting levels and emergence of
dual nutrition burden, BMI for age provides a method for
early detection and correction of both under and over
nutrition
SKB