The threshold for being overweight and obese should be lowered for Asians in Britain, international experts say

People of South Asian origin are more likely than white people to develop heart disease and type 2 diabetes. To reflect this, Indian health chiefs have changed their measuring system and said other countries should follow suit for people of South Asian origin. Standards used around the world to tell when someone is overweight or obese are based on data from Caucasians. These state that people with a body mass index (BMI) - calculated using weight and height - of 25 or more are overweight. They are obese if it goes above 30. In India those limits have been lowered to 23 and 25, to reflect the risks for their own population. They also have lower thresholds for waist circumference measurements. The move has in effect led to an extra 70 million people being re-classified as overweight or obese. This means that doctors in India are encouraged to intervene earlier, sometimes with drugs or surgery. Dr Anoop Misra, who helped to draw up India's guidelines, said the new measures should be applied for people with a South Asian background wherever they live. "They should be followed for South Asians - Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, Nepalis - they are almost similar. So for the time being, until guidelines for other population groups are available, I think this should be applicable for all south Asians - not only in the UK, but in any country of the world."