Body Fat Percentage: A Clearer Picture Than BMI

The total body fat percentage is the proportion of your total body mass that is made up of fat tissue. This is a more precise metric than BMI which might class people with healthy amounts of lean muscle as overweight. However, the total body fat percentage does not provide insight into the distribution of fat within the body which is why we also measure your visceral adipose tissue separately.

The relationship between total body fat percentage and risk of mortality is complicated because it depends on how much fat you have, where the fat is in your body, and factors such as age and sex. For example, we know that visceral adipose tissue is particularly harmful in males, but that subcutaneous fat on the hips is potentially protective in older females. For this reason, we give total body fat percentage less weight than ALMI and VAT when analyzing your results. What we can say is that the risk of early mortality increases steadily with body fat percentages that are higher than 25%-30%. This is consistent with generally accepted definitions of obesity.

NiaHealth uses your body fat percentage and compares this to others of your same age and sex. This provides us with a percentile that is used to indicate your risk level compared to others in your age/sex category.

- At Risk: NiaHealth defines an at risk total body fat percentage as having a greater proportion of fat tissue than 50% of the population when matched for age and sex.

- Normal: NiaHealth defines a normal total body fat percentage as having a lower proportion of fat tissue than 50%, but greater proportion than 25% of the population when matched for age and sex.

- Optimal: NiaHealth defines an optimal total body fat percentage as having a lower proportion of fat tissue than 75% of the population when matched for age and sex.