A new study co-authored by the state health commissioner suggests the obesity rate in the United States may be higher than previously thought.

Right now, the Centers for Disease Control uses the Body Mass Index formula to calculate whether a person is overweight.

The new report says the BMI is inaccurate, misclassifying 39 percent of Americans as "overweight," rather than "obese."

Researchers say without an accurate measurement of body fat, millions of people do not know they are at risk for obesity-related diseases.

Some doctors are now suggesting lowering the parameters of the BMI, and relying on scans commonly used to check for osteoporosis in women, to measure body fat, muscle mass, and bone density.