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Indian women are either too fat or too thin

New Delhi:  Women in India are facing a severe problem of weight extremes with the obese getting fatter and the undernourished thinner, according to a new study that says this poses a "major challenge" to



"They will need to balance their priorities between addressing health issues afflicting the underweight who happen to be poor, and health issues afflicting the obese and overweight - the upper middle-class and rich."

BMI is an indicator of body fat calculated by dividing a person's weight in kilograms by their height in metres squared. Obesity is defined as having a BMI of more than 30.0 kg/m2.

Compared to people with a healthy weight (a BMI between 18.5 and 24.9 kg/m2), obese individuals and overweight individuals (who have a BMI between 25.0 and 29.9 kg/m2) have an increased risk of diabetes, heart disease and stroke, and tend to die younger.

At the same time, people who are underweight (BMI less than 18.5) also have an increased risk of death, perhaps from complications related to being malnourished.