The body mass index (BMI) of individuals who drink alcohol may be related to how much, and how often, they drink, according to a new study by researchers at the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA). In an analysis of data collected from more than 37,000 people who had never smoked, researchers found that BMI was associated with the number of drinks individuals consumed on the days they drank. Calculated as an individual’s weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared, BMI measures whether or not a person is at a healthy weight – low BMI values generally indicate leanness and higher BMI values indicate being overweight.