DRAFT Australian Dietary Guidelines - Eat For Health

Obesity ≥30.0 [112, 126].
People of Asian origin have the equivalent risk at a lower BMI and people of Polynesian origin have
the equivalent risk at a higher BMI [708].
It is important to measure weight and height accurately to assess overweight and obesity, as selfreported
data is usually inaccurate.
Waist circumference is increasingly being used as an alternative measure of body size for risk
assessment in adults, and provides a better estimate of risk in adults than BMI [965, 966]. Above
80 centimetres in women or 94 centimetres in men is regarded as being overweight and over 88
centimetres in women or above 102 centimetres in men is classified as obese [710, 759].
DRAFT Australian Dietary Guidelines- December 2011 168