Healthy BMI? 8M Britons at high risk of heart disease and diabetes despite 'normal' reading People of African, Caribbean and Asian descent are up to six times more likely to suffer from type 2 diabetes, heart disease and stroke These people should take steps to avoid ill health when their BMI hits 23 NICE: For these people, there is no such thing as a 'healthy' reading of 25 Eight million people in the UK are at high risk of heart disease and diabetes even though they have a 'healthy' body mass index (BMI), experts have said. People of African, Caribbean and Asian descent are up to six times more likely to suffer from type 2 diabetes, heart disease and stroke. This is according to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), in a briefing to the local authorities that plan health campaigns. People of African, Caribbean and Asian descent are up to six times more likely to suffer from type 2 diabetes, heart disease and stroke - and a BMI of 23 should ring alarm bells, experts say It said a lower BMI of 23 - typically classed as in the 'healthy' range of 18 to 25 - must be used as a trigger for action in helping those from these backgrounds avoid ill health. Professor Mike Kelly, director of the centre for public health at Nice, said: 'Type 2 diabetes, heart disease and stroke are potentially life-threatening conditions, which people of African, Caribbean and Asian descent and other minority ethnicities are significantly more likely to develop than the wider population. The most widely used way to measure an adult's weight is to calculate body mass index (BMI). This is your weight in kilograms divided by your height in metres squared. A 'healthy' BMI is classed as between 18 and 25. If your BMI is between 25 and 29.9, you are over the ideal weight for your height (overweight). If your BMI is between 30 and 39.9, you are obese. If your BMI is over 40, you are very obese (known as "morbidly obese"). 'So it's vital that local authorities are supported in taking action to prevent these illnesses in people who have a high risk of developing them. Not only are people from these ethnic backgrounds up to six times more likely to be diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, they are 50% more likely to die from cardiovascular disease, and they also suffer from these conditions at a younger age. This briefing recommends that a BMI of 23 should be the threshold to trigger action to prevent these chronic conditions in people of African, Caribbean and Asian descent and other minority ethnicities, as these individuals are at an increased risk at what is normally considered a healthy weight. 'In our diverse population, it's essential that decision makers, practitioners and individuals are aware of this difference, as it's lower than the 25 BMI value routinely used to signal an increased risk of chronic illness.' Critics have previously argued that Body Mass Index is an insensitive measure of obesity, prone to underestimating obesity in women in particular. Critics have previously argued that Body Mass Index is an insensitive measure of obesity, prone to underestimating obesity in women in particular Two years ago Dr Eric Braverman, of Weill Cornell Medical School, and Dr Nirav Shah, the New York state health commissioner, found that BMI drastically underestimated how many people should regard themselves as unhealthily overweight or obese. In addition, the likelihood of error increased as they got older. Fifty-nine per cent more women aged 70 or over were classified as obese when measured with a DXA scan than their BMI suggested. Researchers said this was because women lost more muscle to fat than men as they age. As BMI does not distinguish between muscle and fat, it doesn't pick up on the change, Dr Braverman said. He added that BMI should be called the "baloney mass index" because it was so inaccurate.