http://codex.buddypress.org/developer-docs/custom-buddypress-loops/the-groups-loop/
I wanted to show list of all groups in the sidebar of the Profile page but the list was being filtered, returning only groups that this user is a member of.
I fixed it by adding the following parameter:
bp_has_groups( 'user_id=false' )
The codex states that user_id is false by default but I had to set. Is the codex incorrect?
I’m still using BP 1.2.9 so perhaps the codex is correct for 1.5?
Anyway, I hope this helps someone.