In 1972, an American scientist, Ancel Keys, working in the area of human nutrition, public health, and epidemiology, renamed it the BMI after finding that its values also correlated with body fat mass as derived from skin-fold or body-density measurements.
1972年，美国从事人类营养、公共健康和流行病学研究的科学家安瑟尔·肯斯将其改名为体重指数，因为肯斯发现该指数数值也与测量皮皱厚度或身体密度得出的全身脂肪量密切相关。