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BMI bullshit
Oct. 7th, 2007 08:36 pm[one of the many many reasons I like ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
saluqi so much is the way she has of pithily summarising almost anything with a perfect phrase. Handy when you're around someone like me, who rabbits on and on and on...]
Getting to the point, a couple of people on my friendslist have talked about BMI this week, andcommodorified posted a great link to a Flickr slideshow of Illustrated BMI Categories. It graphically shows how meaningless BMI is when it comes to assessing how healthy and attractive people can seem, even with an "excessive" BMI. It's one of my particular bugbears, since my BMI is "high" too.
( semi-nekkid pic - I got inspired by the brave Flickr peopl )
I personally feel that body fat percentage might be a better gauge of how fat or not one might be - it seems like a better metric to use for any correlations with regard to health (since visceral fat - around the heart and organs - would probably have impacts. General body fat can make your hormones work differently as well). However, body fat percentage is hard to assess without doing an autopsy (no thanks!), and I have no idea how much research has been done that shows actual correlations between fat percentage and, say, heart disease.
It seems to me the BMI is a crappy instrument that doesn't account for anything, and it can have impacts on people's lives beyond the supposed health risks. For example, I had a checkup by a corporate doctor before going permanent in my job. He pointed out to me that my BMI indicated I was "overweight" and he needed to note that on his report. I asked him if it actually seemed that I was "overweight", and what, if any, impact it would have on my job - he replied that that was what the figures said, and it needed to be on the report. He couldn't tell me what BMI figure would actually be an issue for getting the position. I actually wasn't worried that it would have an impact on the hiring process - I mean, hello, I work at a desk all day - but what was the point? I assume they do the same test with air traffic controllers - but do they do cardiograms and the like which might show real problems? My understanding was that I got the same test that ATCs do... and so it would prove precisely nothing. I believe that health insurance in the US requires medical checks that include BMI - do premiums go up? Would I get knocked back from a job if my BMI exceeded a certain amount, even if I was capable of doing the physical tasks (for example, I can most definitely do the strength tests for the police - running is another matter, heh. Short Irish legs.).
I feel like getting very feministy about the patriarchal cabal that comes up with stupid figures to try and control all of us - was BMI invented by insurance companies to enhance their profits, for example - but I'm sure you can all take that part as read. :-) But do check out the Flickr slideshow; it's extremely illuminating.
saluqi so much is the way she has of pithily summarising almost anything with a perfect phrase. Handy when you're around someone like me, who rabbits on and on and on...]Getting to the point, a couple of people on my friendslist have talked about BMI this week, and
commodorified posted a great link to a Flickr slideshow of Illustrated BMI Categories. It graphically shows how meaningless BMI is when it comes to assessing how healthy and attractive people can seem, even with an "excessive" BMI. It's one of my particular bugbears, since my BMI is "high" too. ( semi-nekkid pic - I got inspired by the brave Flickr peopl )
I personally feel that body fat percentage might be a better gauge of how fat or not one might be - it seems like a better metric to use for any correlations with regard to health (since visceral fat - around the heart and organs - would probably have impacts. General body fat can make your hormones work differently as well). However, body fat percentage is hard to assess without doing an autopsy (no thanks!), and I have no idea how much research has been done that shows actual correlations between fat percentage and, say, heart disease.
It seems to me the BMI is a crappy instrument that doesn't account for anything, and it can have impacts on people's lives beyond the supposed health risks. For example, I had a checkup by a corporate doctor before going permanent in my job. He pointed out to me that my BMI indicated I was "overweight" and he needed to note that on his report. I asked him if it actually seemed that I was "overweight", and what, if any, impact it would have on my job - he replied that that was what the figures said, and it needed to be on the report. He couldn't tell me what BMI figure would actually be an issue for getting the position. I actually wasn't worried that it would have an impact on the hiring process - I mean, hello, I work at a desk all day - but what was the point? I assume they do the same test with air traffic controllers - but do they do cardiograms and the like which might show real problems? My understanding was that I got the same test that ATCs do... and so it would prove precisely nothing. I believe that health insurance in the US requires medical checks that include BMI - do premiums go up? Would I get knocked back from a job if my BMI exceeded a certain amount, even if I was capable of doing the physical tasks (for example, I can most definitely do the strength tests for the police - running is another matter, heh. Short Irish legs.).
I feel like getting very feministy about the patriarchal cabal that comes up with stupid figures to try and control all of us - was BMI invented by insurance companies to enhance their profits, for example - but I'm sure you can all take that part as read. :-) But do check out the Flickr slideshow; it's extremely illuminating.
