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04: BMI Is Bizarre and Icky

Ever wonder, "this equation makes no forking sense?!". Same. Where did BMI come from and why do we use it to measure how "healthy" a person is? Is BMI a valid tool? How else can we measure a person's health? Abbey gets hangry on this episode and brings you the facts on BMI, how bizarre it truly is, and uncovers its racist past.

 

Citations:

  1. Phelan SM, Burgess DJ, Yeazel MW, Hellerstedt WL, Griffin JM, van Ryn M. Impact of weight bias and stigma on quality of care and outcomes for patients with obesity. Obes Rev. 2015;16(4):319-326. doi:10.1111/obr.12266 
  2. AMA J Ethics. 2023;25(7):E535-539. doi: 10.1001/amajethics.2023.535 
  3. Adolphe Quetelet. (2015). In EncyclopƦdia Britannica. Retrieved from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/487148/Adolphe-Quetelet 
  4. Eknoyan, G. (2007). Adolphe Quetelet (1796-1874)- the average man and indices of obesity. Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation, 23(1), 47-51.
  5. Devlin, K. (2009, July 4). Top 10 reasons why the BMI is bogus. NPR. https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=106268439 
  6. Mohdin, A. (2017, July 27). Mindful of eugenicsā€™ dark history, researchers are reexamining the genetics of Social Mobility. Quartz. https://qz.com/1035624/150-years-after-the-birth-of-the-eugenics-movement-researchers-are-carefully-dipping-back-into-the-genetics-of-social-mobility