BMI stands for body mass index. It equals a person’s weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared. (BMI=kg/m2). It is a number that expresses how overweight a person is. The more overweight a person is, the higher the BMI. A BMI greater than 30 in an adult is considered obese.

According to research appearing in Pediatric Pulmonology (2006; 41(12): 1118-24), a high BMI and poor diet combine to increase the incidence of asthma. The study involved over 24,000 Korean school children between the ages of six and 12. A high BMI was associated with previous 12-month prevalence of wheeze, lifetime prevalence of wheeze, and exercise-induced wheeze in boys. There was no such association in girls. Consumption of fresh fruit, vegetables and fish was associated with a decrease in symptoms.