Body Volume Index (BVI) launch in London
23 March 2007
The Body Benchmark Study is being officially launched today in London. Body Benchmark will aim to generate a new obesity measurement system - the Body Volume Index (BVI) – which will give patients a risk indicator based on their part body composition and individual shape, not just purely their whole body mass.
The Body Benchmark Study is collaboration between five prestigious healthcare research facilities and hospitals in the US, the United Kingdom and mainland Europe. Additionally, healthcare professionals across the world have been consulted in confidence about Body Volume Index (BVI) during the design process.
The lead collaborator of The Body Benchmark Study is UK based Select Research, specialists in recording and measuring body shape. Their pioneering research (Size UK) on behalf of the Department of Trade & Industry in 2002 used 3D body scanning technology to scan 11,000 people and led to the re-appraisal of the UK’s clothing size scales. Select had also undertaken four large sizing surveys for Marks & Spencer plc prior to Size UK.
Commenting on the launch of Richard Barnes, Project Director of The Body Benchmark Study said: “Size UK helped retailers to use new technology to re-assess body shape for clothing when they had been relying on manual data. Through Body Benchmark we are adopting the same approach to help create a new anthropometric measurement for healthcare. Using 21st century technology to reappraise individual body measurement, we hope to give patients the accuracy to match their own health needs, based on their own unique shape.”
Dr Frankie Phillips, registered Dietitian and spokesperson for the British Dietetic Association welcomed the research and said: “Evidence-based research forms the basis of clinical assessment and advice given by Dietitians. The BDA eagerly awaits the outcomes of this programme, which might offer Dietitians an evidence-based tool for measuring health risks associated with body shape and size, which they can use in addition to current tools and clinical tests to assess patients.”