{"id":877,"date":"2022-06-13T22:12:49","date_gmt":"2022-06-13T22:12:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/simplestartnutrition.com\/?p=877"},"modified":"2022-06-13T22:14:09","modified_gmt":"2022-06-13T22:14:09","slug":"why-we-shouldnt-put-so-much-weight-behind-the-body-mass-index","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/simplestartnutrition.com\/?p=877","title":{"rendered":"Why We Shouldn&#8217;t Put So Much Weight Behind the Body Mass Index"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"877\" class=\"elementor elementor-877\" data-elementor-post-type=\"post\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-607c7fb4 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"607c7fb4\" data-element_type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-11403454\" data-id=\"11403454\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-ac024be elementor-widget elementor-widget-theme-post-title elementor-page-title elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"ac024be\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"theme-post-title.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h1 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Why We Shouldn&#8217;t Put So Much Weight Behind the Body Mass Index<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-baa22fd elementor-widget elementor-widget-theme-post-featured-image elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"baa22fd\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"theme-post-featured-image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/simplestartnutrition.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Why-We-Shouldnt-Put-So-Much-Weight-Behind-the-Body-Mass-Index.jpg?fit=300%2C169&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium wp-image-878\" alt=\"photo of measuring tape on a table\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/simplestartnutrition.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Why-We-Shouldnt-Put-So-Much-Weight-Behind-the-Body-Mass-Index.jpg?w=1640&amp;ssl=1 1640w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/simplestartnutrition.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Why-We-Shouldnt-Put-So-Much-Weight-Behind-the-Body-Mass-Index.jpg?resize=300%2C169&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/simplestartnutrition.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Why-We-Shouldnt-Put-So-Much-Weight-Behind-the-Body-Mass-Index.jpg?resize=1024%2C577&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/simplestartnutrition.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Why-We-Shouldnt-Put-So-Much-Weight-Behind-the-Body-Mass-Index.jpg?resize=768%2C433&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/simplestartnutrition.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Why-We-Shouldnt-Put-So-Much-Weight-Behind-the-Body-Mass-Index.jpg?resize=1536%2C865&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/simplestartnutrition.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Why-We-Shouldnt-Put-So-Much-Weight-Behind-the-Body-Mass-Index.jpg?w=1280&amp;ssl=1 1280w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-2cfe4c4f elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"2cfe4c4f\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What do you know about the Body Mass Index, otherwise known as the BMI?\u00a0 It was drilled into my head during school as a way to categorize people based on their height and weight.\u00a0 There is a sweet spot called \u201cnormal\u201d; otherwise, you can fall too high, or too low on the index.\u00a0 Falling outside the \u201cnormal\u201d range comes with health risks\u2026.or so I was taught.\u00a0 But the more I looked into this tool, the less reliable it seemed.\u00a0 Does it really identify health risks?\u00a0 How accurate is it?\u00a0 Should we really be putting so much weight behind the BMI (pun intended).\u00a0<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Before we dive into the history of where the BMI even came from, here\u2019s a quick reminder:<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is the BMI (can you tell it was developed in Europe with kg and meters?- ha!)<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">BMI = weight (kg) \/ height2<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For the US: BMI = (weight (lb) \u00f7 height2) x 703 (inches)<\/p>\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Underweight: a BMI of 18.49 or below\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Normal: a BMI of 18.5\u201324.99\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Overweight: a BMI of 25\u201329.99\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Obese: a BMI of 30\u201339.99\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Morbibly Obese: a BMI of 40 or more\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><em>Surely, it was designed with the best of intentions.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The BMI was developed in the 1830\u2019s by Lambert Adolphe Jacques Quetelet- a Belgium astronomer, mathetitican, and statistician.\u00a0 It was developed as a quick way to assess the general population for statistical purposes, NOT as an indicator of health and was originally called Quetelet\u2019s Index.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Takeaway<\/strong>: A smart guy who has nothing to do with the medical field developed the BMI for statistical purposes, NOT for health purposes.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><em>So if the inventor of the formula didn\u2019t intend for it to measure health, what happened?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Insurance companies (<em>notice: NOT medical doctors<\/em>), that\u2019s what happened!\u00a0 They noticed that being larger in size was possibly linked to a decrease in lifespan.\u00a0 So, they needed a quick and easy way to quantify the risk and to determine what to charge potential policyholders.\u00a0 Insurance companies began to create height\/weight tables using Quetelet\u2019s Index.\u00a0 Their tables were based primarily on white men.\u00a0 In time, physicians began to use the tables to evaluate their patients&#8217; health.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Takeaway<\/strong>: Insurance companies were using it to make more money.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><em>Ok, weird, so where did \u201cThe Body Mass Index\u201d come from?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The BMI officially got its name in 1972 after a study done by researcher Ancel Key\u2019s and his colleagues.\u00a0 The study was to find an easy and cost effective way to measure body fatness.\u00a0 In theory, body fatness is linked to health concerns; the more body fat you have, the higher your risk.\u00a0 On the flip side, you can have too little body fat which comes with its own risks.\u00a0 The study compared skin calipers (where you pinch your fat and measure how much is being pinched), water displacement (where you are submerged underwater with the displacement of water being different for fat vs muscle) and the BMI formula.\u00a0 Skin calipers took some time and effort and the subject to be present while the underwater weighing was, well, not really convenient or cost effective at all.\u00a0 It was found that the BMI formula was just as effective for measuring body fatness, or obesity as the other two options.\u00a0 They all measured body fatness correctly about 50% of the time, aka, they were all wrong about 50% of the time as well.\u00a0 Not great.\u00a0 But not any worse than the other two options, and a little quicker and easier.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Takeaway:<\/strong>\u00a0 The BMI is the \u201cbest\u201d way to measure body fatness of the not so great options.\u00a0 Additionally, it\u2019s not very accurate (it\u2019s basically a 50\/50 shot of being correct)<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><em>But it has the categories of overweight, obese, etc, they have to mean something.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In 1993, the World Health Organization (WHO) assembled an Expert Consultation Group who developed the categories of the BMI: underweight, normal weight, overweight, and obese.\u00a0 These were published in 1995 for the world to use.\u00a0 Before this time, obese was not regularly used as a health term. One would think the terms were linked to health conditions.\u00a0 For example, you would think moving up on the BMI scale would put you more at risk for heart disease or diabetes.\u00a0 However, you would be wrong, the categories are based on nothing. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In 1998 The National Institute of Health changed the criteria for overweight and obese to match the criteria the WHO was using.\u00a0 Originally, people with a BMI of 27.8 (men) and 27.3 (women) or greater were classified as overweight.\u00a0 This label (and it was only one, you were either a \u201cnormal\u201d weight or overweight) was based on a percent of the population, 85% of the population to be exact.\u00a0 However, when the US aligned with the WHO and made a BMI of below 25 a normal weight, millions of Americans now bumped up to overweight even if they didn\u2019t gain a pound.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Takeaway:\u00a0<\/strong> The categories of overweight, obese, morbidly obese, do not correspond to any health conditions or risk for disease.\u00a0 They are completely made up and have been changed overnight.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>There are so many things wrong with the BMI, from how it was developed, to how it\u2019s currently being used.<\/em><\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><em>It was based on men, and only men<\/em><\/strong>.\u00a0 Women and children were not taken into account when gathering the initial information in the 1830\u2019s.\u00a0 The policy holders for insurance were predominantly men, and the study done in 1972 was on men.\u00a0 No women or children were in the mix.\u00a0 Yet, it is used on women and children.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><em>Speaking of children- this should in no way be used to evaluate them.<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0 Children tend to grow out, then up, then out, then up, making it a useless tool to label kids\u2019 weight as normal or anything else, as they probably aren\u2019t done growing yet.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><em>It does not account for body composition<\/em><\/strong>.\u00a0 Muscle, fat, bone density, frame size, age, gender.\u00a0 None of it is taken into consideration.\u00a0 Just height and weight.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><em>It is not linked to any type of health conditions<\/em><\/strong>.\u00a0 In fact, more research is being done saying that people in the overweight category may have better health outcomes.\u00a0 We don\u2019t know yet.\u00a0 Better yet, research is showing that up to about 25% with a normal BMI can have underlying health conditions and about 30% of overweight or obese people are perfectly healthy.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Bottom line, the BMI is not all it\u2019s cracked up to be.\u00a0 Say you\u2019re 5\u20197\u201d and weigh 191 pounds.\u00a0 If you gain one pound, you now moved from the overweight to the obese category.\u00a0 So what?\u00a0 Your health didn\u2019t change with one pound, but your label did.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t account for muscle mass, bone density, or frame size.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t take gender or ethnicity into account (and side note, women need more body fat than men). Plus the categories are COMPLETELY MADE UP.\u00a0 Instead of forcing people into categories based on their height and weight (and literally nothing else), how about trying to look at the bigger picture, like blood work, blood pressure, family history, eating habits, exercise routine, sleep, and stress.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What are your thoughts?\u00a0 I\u2019m finding it hard to find a situation where BMI would be helpful.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Stay Happy, Stay Healthy<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" class=\"alignnone  wp-image-643\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/simplestartnutrition.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/image-7.png?resize=127%2C98&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"127\" height=\"98\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/simplestartnutrition.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/image-7.png?w=1650&amp;ssl=1 1650w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/simplestartnutrition.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/image-7.png?resize=300%2C231&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/simplestartnutrition.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/image-7.png?resize=1024%2C789&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/simplestartnutrition.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/image-7.png?resize=768%2C592&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/simplestartnutrition.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/image-7.png?resize=1536%2C1184&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/simplestartnutrition.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/image-7.png?w=1280&amp;ssl=1 1280w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 127px) 100vw, 127px\" \/><\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This blog was written by Chris Henigan MS, RD, LDN, co-founder of Simple Start Nutrition.\u00a0 For more blog posts and nutrition information follow @simplestartnutrition on Instagram and Facebook.\u00a0 Also feel free to contact us, by visiting our website (<a href=\"http:\/\/simplestartnutrition.com\/\">simplestartnutrition.com<\/a>) to schedule an appointment to discuss your nutrition related needs.\u00a0 We\u2019re here to help.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">References:<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC4890841\/\">https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC4890841\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/journals.lww.com\/nutritiontodayonline\/fulltext\/2015\/05000\/body_mass_index__obesity,_bmi,_and_health__a.5.aspx\">https:\/\/journals.lww.com\/nutritiontodayonline\/fulltext\/2015\/05000\/body_mass_index__obesity,_bmi,_and_health__a.5.aspx<\/a><\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.medicalnewstoday.com\/articles\/255712#are-people-misclassified\">https:\/\/www.medicalnewstoday.com\/articles\/255712#are-people-misclassified<\/a><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div 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BMI?\u00a0 It was drilled into my head during school as a 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