Tuesday, 3 April 2012

The BMI Story Revisited.

I read today that a US study has ‘discovered’ that Body Mass Index is an inadequate way of defining obesity. Surprise, surprise! Would it be permissible to point in the direction of my post Rule by Numbers: the BMI Story?

The message the researchers are putting out, however, appears to be confined to the assertion that the use of BMI is failing to identify some people who are clearly obese, and that the obesity problem in the US is, therefore, even worse than previously thought. I wonder how long it will be before they also acknowledge the other half of the issue: that some people are being defined as obese when they’re clearly not.

Can anybody tell me why it is that getting those with power and influence to see what is patently obvious is like pulling impacted wisdom teeth?

And I seem to be saying ‘I told you so’ a lot lately, don’t I? Sorry; it's a weakness I sometimes indulge.

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