India, Oct. 13 -- BMI, or Body Mass Index, is one of the most common ways to check if a person's weight is healthy. The BMI scale classifies people as underweight, healthy, overweight, or obese. Many people ignore a little extra weight, especially after the festive season when rich food leads to slight weight gain. But dismissing even small weight increases can have serious effects. Those few extra kilos can strain the heart and other vital organs.

To explain how even mild weight gain affects health, Dr V Mohan, Chairman of Dr Mohan's Diabetes Specialities Centre and President of the Madras Diabetes Research Foundation, spoke to HT Lifestyle. He said that extra weight raises the risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and fatty liver.

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