Methodology
A UK based research company, Select Research, in collaboration with internationally renowned UK, European & US health professionals including the British Dietetic Association, will spearhead the Body Benchmark Study. Body Benchmark will, over nine stages, record and measure the body volume of over 20,000 volunteers in the UK and US over a two-year period in order to create a new, more sophisticated measurement system for healthcare; the Body Volume Index or BVI.Commenting on the launch of Body Benchmark, Richard Barnes, MD of Select Research said: “Through our Size UK study we were able to reappraise and solve the problem of the retail industry who were relying on outdated data to size clothes. We are adopting the same approach through Body Benchmark to help create a new anthropometric measurement for the healthcare profession. We aim to use 21st century technology to reappraise body measurement and to give patients the accuracy their health deserves.”
Commenting on their involvement in the research Pippa Rimmer, spokesperson for the British Dietetic Association commented: “Over 50% of the population of is currently overweight and by 2010 more than 25% of the population will be clinically obese. We draw these conclusions based on BMI, but the problem is that BMI is not an accurate measure so we are not seeing the real picture of the nation’s health. We support any work that contributes to developing a more robust benchmark and the BDA will be actively contributing to the clinical research in order to find a better way of appraising patients weight.”