ABSI App

ABSI calculator ABSI (A Body Shape Index) is a recently proposed indicator for evaluating health risks [N.Y.Krakauer & J.C.Krakauer, PLoS ONE 7 (2012) e39504, DOI: doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0039504.t005]. It overcomes the limitations of the commonly used BMI (Body Mass Index) indicator as it takes into account also the Waist Circumference thus permitting to distinguish the effects of fat or muscular mass on the total weight. As an example, imagine two persons with the same height and weight but one being muscular and the other being fat the latter will have an increased health risk than the other. The app asks you for your weight, height, Waist, gender and age and provides the value of the so-called ABSI z-score with an indication of the risk zone (from 1 to 5) as described in tab 4 of the PLoS ONE paper. Zones 1 to 3 correspond to low risk, zone 4 to moderate and zone 5 to high risk. A recommendation: measure carefully your waist circumference as the value of the ABSI z-score is highly dependent on this body parameter.