Body mass index gets smack down: AMA calls out harms and “racist exclusion”

https://arstechnica.com/health/2023/06/american-medical-assoc-blasts-bmi-for-historical-harm-racist-exclusion/

Let's get those obese numbers down! Change the formula /jk

4 points · 5 comments · view on lemmy.world

5 Comments

GhostedIC@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 3y

This has to be the dumbest of all the reasons to move away from BMI, but there are a lot of good ones. The reason BMI is still around is because theres not a good alternative that is fast and easy to measure.

tallwookie@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 3y (2 replies)

calling someone obese/fat isnt racism.

RayeRei@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 3y (1 reply)

Sure but often the call on wether a persons bmi is healthy or not comes down to a doctor. A clearer and more objective metric would leave less room for subjective bias amoung examiners. POC people already deal with a lot of that bias from doctors anyways

tallwookie@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 3y

no one other than a health professional (dietician, doctor, etc) should be taken seriously on health related matters.

redpen@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 3y

There's a BMI calculator online that I use that has a bit more nuance than standard BMI called Smart BMI Calculator.