Big Fat Deal » Top 10 Reasons Why The BMI Is Bogus

Top 10 Reasons Why The BMI Is Bogus

July 7th, 2009

From NPR:

1. The person who dreamed up the BMI said explicitly that it could not and should not be used to indicate the level of fatness in an individual.

The BMI was introduced in the early 19th century by a Belgian named Lambert Adolphe Jacques Quetelet. He was a mathematician, not a physician. He produced the formula to give a quick and easy way to measure the degree of obesity of the general population to assist the government in allocating resources. In other words, it is a 200-year-old hack.

Thanks to Een for the heads up!

Posted by mo pie

Filed under: Health, Science, Tidbit

7 Responses to Top 10 Reasons Why The BMI Is Bogus

Bethany, on July 7th, 2009 at 5:05 pm Said:

Interesting article. I really agree that we need to rethink a lot of the categories and boxes we love to shove people into based on all sorts of bodily factors and measurements — maybe it allows us to classify people easily, and come up with absurd averages for what “normal” is, but it’s just so misleading on so many levels.

The last line was odd, in terms of the rest of the article, calling obesity “one of the leading causes of poor health and premature death.” While I’m not totally sure this is untrue in general, I think it’s at least worth noting that (as all HAES advocates will also assert), it is not a necessary connection in all cases.

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Porky, on July 7th, 2009 at 5:24 pm Said:

Hey there! Just wanted to let you know that I’m linking you now cause I love your posts. I look forward to reading more in the future!

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Rachel, on July 7th, 2009 at 5:33 pm Said:

“Mathematical snake oil…” Love it! Thanks for the link.

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Alyssa, on July 7th, 2009 at 11:05 pm Said:

I KNEW it!!!!!!!!

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Addish, on July 8th, 2009 at 12:38 am Said:

Oh this just reminded me! I saw in the paper somewhere even saying that the bmi was full of crap. I just can’t remember exactly where I saw it. Darn.

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abby, on July 8th, 2009 at 6:34 am Said:

SO TRUE! it’s crap! I haven’t read the whole article so maybe it’s mentioned, but I HIGHLY recommend reading ‘Big Fat Lies’. BRILLIANT! I literally said out loud “WHAT?!?!?!’ about 10 times just reading the first chapter. It’s all about debunking all the myths and crap out there surrounding BMI, health, size, etc. READ IT!

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J.B., on July 8th, 2009 at 4:55 pm Said:

In order for my BMI to be “Normal” I’d have to lose 100% of my body fat and 3 lbs of lean body mass.. I’d be dead. It’s a crock.

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