A longitudinal study of Australian women estimated that a reduction of one unit of BMI of the entire population would reduce the incidence of systemic hypertension in
10% and of diabetes mellitus in 13%. If the intervention encompassed only obese individuals, the expected reductions would be 7% and 17%, respectively. Alternatively, the authors used a strategy called ‘middle road’, that is, an intervention
restricted to individuals who were in the right half of BMI distribution in the population (BMI ≥ 24 kg/m2),thus avoiding the risks associated with any increase in the number of individuals with low weight. This strategy proved to be the most effective, with potential reductions of 12% and 23% in the hypertension and diabetes incidence, respectively [11]. Evaluation of BMI distributions in populations is important not only to identify epidemiological profiles, but also to help in the choice of the most appropriate interventions and to monitoring effectiveness