Scaling of human body mass with height: The body mass index revisited

TY - JOUR

T1 - Scaling of human body mass with height

T2 - The body mass index revisited

AU - MacKay, N. J.

PY - 2010/3/3

Y1 - 2010/3/3

N2 - We adapt a biomechanical argument of Rashevsky, which places limits on the stress experienced by a torso supported by the legs, to deduce that body mass m of growing children should scale as the p th power of height h with 7/3 < p < 8/3. Further arguments based on stability and heat loss suggest that p should be close to 8/3. The arguments are extended to suggest that waist circumference w should scale as h(q) with q near the lower end of 2/3 <= q <= 1. Data from Hong Kong and British children are consistent with these hypotheses. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

AB - We adapt a biomechanical argument of Rashevsky, which places limits on the stress experienced by a torso supported by the legs, to deduce that body mass m of growing children should scale as the p th power of height h with 7/3 < p < 8/3. Further arguments based on stability and heat loss suggest that p should be close to 8/3. The arguments are extended to suggest that waist circumference w should scale as h(q) with q near the lower end of 2/3 <= q <= 1. Data from Hong Kong and British children are consistent with these hypotheses. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

KW - Allometric scaling

KW - Body mass index

KW - WAIST CIRCUMFERENCE

KW - CHILDREN

KW - WEIGHT

KW - LONGEVITY

KW - OBESITY

KW - SHAPE

KW - SIZE

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=77952512399&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.jbiomech.2009.10.038

DO - 10.1016/j.jbiomech.2009.10.038

M3 - Article

SN - 0021-9290

VL - 43

SP - 764

EP - 766

JO - Journal of biomechanics

JF - Journal of biomechanics

IS - 4

ER -