Potential for body mass index as a tool to estimate body fat in young people. / Potencial del índice de masa corporal como indicador de grasa corporal en jóvenes.

OBJECTIVE: We aim to determine the anthropometric indicator that is most strongly associated with the percentage of body fat and self-regulation of eating behaviour and physical activity among young university students. METHOD: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 3,869 Mexican university students, of which 53.9% were women. Standard procedures for anthropometry were followed, including weight, height and waist circumference. This data was used for calculating Body Mass Index (BMI), A Body Shape Index, waist-to-height ratio, Body Roundness Index and Conicity index. The self-regulation of eating habits scale and the self-regulation of physical activity scale were used. Mean with standard deviation, percentages and Pearson correlation coefficient were estimated. RESULTS: The group of men shown a higher prevalence of excess weight compared to the women. Inverse correlations between most anthropometric indices and self-regulation of eating behaviour and physical activity were found. However, in all cases the correlations were weak. The percentage of fat had a medium frequency of association with Conicity index and high with BMI, waist circumference, waist-to-height ratio and Body Roundness Index, where the BMI showed the highest correlation coefficient CONCLUSIONS: The BMI shows the highest magnitude of association with percentage of body fat in university students among the indicators analysed. Therefore it is suggested that nurses use BMI to determine obesity because it is easy to calculate.