The last time the Standard BMI was officially updated through proper, official channels was in 1998 (1, 2, 3). At that time, the NIH changed the threshold for “overweight”, officially lowering it to a BMI of 25 and aligning it with World Health Organization guidelines. The only thing the Standard BMI does, via height and weight, is estimate body fat to assess health risks.
That is literally the only thing the BMI does, estimate body fat to assess health risks (4, 5, 1, 3). It does nothing else (no, it does not estimate health, only healthy weight). Yes, the accuracy of the BMI is debatable, for sure. However, the simple definition of the Standard BMI is not debatable — it is set in stone until changed via official protocol.
This is the current official Standard BMI scale:
18.49 or less – underweight, not a healthy weight due to too little regular white/yellow body fat (common adipose tissue)
18.5 to 24.99 – normal weight, healthy weight due to no excess regular white/yellow body fat (common adipose tissue)
25 to 29.99 – overweight, not a healthy weight due to too much/excess regular white/yellow body fat (common adipose tissue)
30+ – obese, not a healthy weight due to way too much/excess regular white/yellow body fat (common adipose tissue)
In 2016, the NIH released its first-ever (initial) definition for normal-weight obesity (skinny fat)(6):
“Normal-weight obesity syndrome is characterized by excess body fat in individuals with adequate body mass index (18.5-24.9 kg/m(2))”
Which directly contradicts the Standard BMI definition (1, 2, 3, 4, 5). No official change to the BMI happened – the BMI definition/scale did not change.
Your bio says you've been researching the issue for 23 years, and I'm supposed to ask a question to demonstrate relevance?
Just for the record, the first place I recall reading about "skinnyfat" was in Microserfs by Douglas Coupland. It was published in 1995 so the term was bouncing around before that for Coupland to have picked it up.
I was a subject in a study on it in 1997. I never did see the published results; I suspect they never got enough people to make it a legitimate study. Seems like not much has changed since; it’s still a collection of hypotheses without enough data to say anything useful.
In terms of official literature, it was not first mentioned until 2006 - "thin outside, fat inside" (TOFI).
You ask questions to clarify things.
In terms of peer reviewed literature I can only find the term twice from a quick skim of PubMed. Both times it's in quotes referring to bro science. Do you have an actual lab?
eta: read your website. You are somewhere between crackpot and grifter. Blocked.
2006 - TOFI, 2016, normal-weight obesity.
Every article in the white paper is thoroughly referenced.
These are the current facts:
No one has been asked for anything.
PS: Seems like a "Recovering academic" would have more respect for independent research.