Photo of your face is all it takes to predict your BMI

[FarCenter]

THERE'S a lot you can tell from a face – and now there's one more thing: body mass index. Software that can predict your BMI from a snapshot of your face could turn a simple headshot into a revealing portrait of your build, and even your risk of certain diseases.

BMI is a standard health metric that's equal to a person's weight (in kilograms) divided by the square of their height (in metres). Someone with a BMI over 30 is acknowledged as obese and below 18.5 as underweight.

How we perceive someone's weight based on images of their face is strongly correlated with actual body weight and associated health risks (Perception, doi.org/c67jd5). Building on that knowledge, Guodong Guo and colleagues at West Virginia University in Morgantown have now produced an algorithm that can analyse a mugshot and predict that person's BMI.

The software assesses seven weight-related components in a face image, including the ratios of cheekbone width to jaw width, face length to cheekbone width and the average distance between eyebrow and eye. They then ran the program across images of 14,500 faces of people with known BMIs. The predicted BMIs were mostly within two or three points of the person's actual BMI (Image and Vision Computing, doi.org/mnz).

That's just a first attempt, Guo says. He says that tweaking the software to analyse more facial features should improve the results.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21829205.700-photo-of-your-face-is-all-it-takes-to-predict-your-bmi.html

Great! Now NSA can tell HHS your BMI based on your Facebook photo.

[dipsydoodle]

1. I'll leave them to sort these two out.

[liberal_at_heart]

2. BMI is a flawed index. I don't pay much attention to it. I don't even pay much attention to the

scale. I eat fruits and vegetables I know are high in vitamins and minerals, lean meats, and whole grains. I try to do moderate exercise a few times a week. Other than that I don't worry about things like the scale and BMI. I do pay attention to blood pressure, blood sugar levels, cholesterol, and other blood tests.

[FarCenter]

7. Actually, a Facial Fat Index might be more accurate.

One knock against BMI is that it doesn't account for people who are heavy for their height because they are muscular.

Face muscle development may be more similar, and the overlying fat may be more indicative of body fat as a percent of body weight.

[closeupready]

3. Not such a surprise - double chins, puffy faces, and more subtle

features of those who are overweight are good indicators of someone's fatness.

Conversely, those who are slender often have sharp cheekbones and, if fit, a musculature that shows.

I don't like the BMI, but for many in the US who are morbidly obese, it's pretty good in terms of ringing alarm bells.

[MFM008]

4. thats just dandy

now I cant lie about it anymore..........

[smirkymonkey]

5. Kind of riduculous.

I know very thin people with chubby looking faces and heavy people with sharp angular faces. Most people fit, but a lot do not.

[L0oniX]

6. Bowel Movement Indicator?

[madokie]

8. I have a bmi of 21.42