Raised BMI cut-off for overweight in Greenland Inuit – a review

Figures & data

Table I The BMI in Inuit that corresponds to a BMI of 25 kg/m² in non-Inuit whites as estimated by different methods: Noahsen assessed Inuit BMI based on plasma lipids

Population	Measure	BMI	Reference
Non-Inuit whites	Reference	25	WHO	(2)
Inuit men	HDL	27.62	Jørgensen, Noahsen	(22, 31)
	Triglycerides	27.18	Jørgensen, Noahsen	(22, 31)
	HDL	28.36	Young, Noahsen	(23, 31)
	Triglycerides	26.36	Young, Noahsen	(23, 31)
	Distribution	27.9	Andersen	(10)
	SH/H ratio	26.6	Chateau-Degat, Norgan	(15, 17)
Inuit women	HDL	26.54	Jørgensen, Noahsen	(22, 31)
	Triglycerides	27.18	Jørgensen, Noahsen	(22, 31)
	HDL	27.93	Young, Noahsen	(23, 31)
	Triglycerides	27.27	Young, Noahsen	(23, 31)
	Distribution	27.7	Andersen	(10)
	SH/H ratio	27.4	Chateau-Degat, Norgan	(15, 17)

Andersen assessed Inuit BMI based on BMI distributions. Norgan assessed BMI based on sitting height/height ratios (31). Noahsen computed cut-off points based on data extracted from comparative studies of BMI and plasma lipids (22, 23).

Fig. 1 Distribution of BMI among 20–29-year-old men in East Greenland in 1963 (n=176). The WHO definition of overweight renders 31% of young hunters overweight. Defining overweight by an Inuit 90-percentile sets the cut-off point at 27.9 kg/m² in Inuit men (from ref. 10).

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