In a landmark decision, the Union Health ministry on Tuesday released the first India-specific guidelines for prevention and management of obesity and metabolic syndrome.
As per the new standards released by the Ministry, a person with a body mass index of 23 kg/m2 will be considered overweight and below that as one with normal BMI - unlike the cut-off limit of 25 kg/m2 earlier. Now, those with BMI of 25 kg/m2 will be clinically termed obese (as opposed to 30 kg/m2 at the international level) and those with BMI of 32.5 kg/m2 will require bariatric surgery to eliminate excess.