- The body mass index (BMI) metric has caused “historical harm,” including racist exclusion, according to a new report by the American Medical Association (AMA) Council on Science and Public Health. Doctors have long relied on BMI to measure obesity, but it is an imperfect measurement that does not directly assess body fat, the nation’s largest medical association said this week. Cutoffs for BMI, which range from underweight to obese, were created based on data collected from non-Hispanic white populations and do not take into account gender or ethnicity, according to the report. Moving forward, physicians should be educated on the issues with BMI and alternative measures to diagnose obesity, the report said. (Articles here, here, and here)
June 20, 2023
Life Sciences | Tea Leaves