Study in Nature finds the CAD-obesity definition predicts death risk better than BMI

11 November 2026

A study published in Nature, analysing data from more than 800,000 people, found that diagnosing obesity by body mass index (BMI) alone misses many people whose excess body fat raises their health risks. BMI divides a person's weight by the square of their height, and a value of 30 or above is usually taken as obesity. The alternative tested is the combined anthropometric definition of obesity, or CAD-obesity, which adds measures linked to body fat such as waist circumference. CAD-obesity proved better than BMI at predicting a person's risk of death. Fat stored around the abdomen is known to carry worse health effects than fat stored elsewhere.