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Received from: FactMaster
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Today's useless fact - What is a healthy percentage of body fat?
Most sources agree that the human body requires a certain amount
of
fat for good health. Fat helps regulate body
temperature, store
energy, and cushion and insulate organs. The percentage of body
weight
that makes up this "essential fat" is around 4% of body weight
for men
and 10% for women. Beyond that, there's a somewhat wide range of
what
is considered a healthy percentage of body fat.
According the American Dietetic
Association recommends that men have 15-18% body fat and women
have
20-25% body fat. Healthy male athletes might be as low as 5-12%
body
fat, and healthy female athletes could be as low as 10-20%.
Doctors increasingly use the
Body Mass Index (BMI), not body fat
measurements, to determine whether or not a person is overweight.
BMI
is based on a mathematical formula using height and weight that
estimates overall body composition.
Check out the links in our
Fat category
and
BMI category
for more.
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