What?
History
Today
100

What is the BMI? (formula)

BMI = kg/m2 


100

When was the BMI created?

1830

100

Is the BMI a good predictor of health?

  1. The BMI is a poor predictor of health and essentially irrelevant.

  2. Continued reliance on the BMI means doctors don't feel the need to use one of the more scientifically sound methods that are available to measure body composition.

  3. Those alternatives cost a little bit more, but they give far more reliable results.


200

What does the BMI not take into account (physical body)

Body composition: the weight of bones, muscle, fluid, and fat

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Who created the BMI?

Lambert Adolphe Jacques Quetelet (a mathematician)

200

True or False: Being “overweight” causes health problems like diabetes, heart disease, etc

We don't know for sure that being overweight causes the health problems it's been associated with. It could be a combination of many things. For example, people who have high BMIs also tend to have a history of dieting. And research has shown that yo-yo dieting, or fluctuating in weight, has a negative impact on your overall health. 

300

What demographic (group of people) characteristics was the BMI based upon?

  1. utilized cis-gendered, heteronormative, white men of upper class in France during the 1830’s. The BMI was created from research on male populations. An entirely different formula was originally used for female populations, and yet, doctors use the same equation for both genders.

  2. The populations general height and weight was much shorter and lower than today (190 years ago).

300

Why was the BMI created?

To try to assess the collective weight of a population. 

It was never created for, nor intended to be used, on individuals. 

300

Does a low BMI ensure good health? Why or why not?

Focusing on BMI and weight keeps doctors and other experts from seeing the real issues behind disease. It goes back to the difference between "association" and "cause." Research hasn't proven weight to be the cause of most of the things we say it causes.

400

What does the BMI NOT take into account? (non-physical characteristics)

  1. Genetics

  2. Gender

  3. Race

  4. Growth Chart

400

How many times has the BMI been updated?

  1. 1998 the BMI was changed so that the ”overweight” category went from 27 to 25.

  2. 30,500,000 became overweight overnight.

  3. This was an arbitrary change with no empirically based reason.

400

Examples of alternative body composition measurements

Skin-fold tests, underwater weight displacement, BIA, DEXA

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