The American Medical Association (AMA) now discourages the use of body mass index (BMI), calling it an “imperfect” and “problematic” means of assessing body fat, and states that it has been used to “racist exclusion”.
The comments were included in a report presented at the 2023 AMA Annual Meeting in Chicago, Illinois, earlier this month.
“BMI cutoffs are based on the imaginary, Caucasian ideal [do] not take into account a person’s gender or ethnicity,” the report states.
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The WADA also stated that the history of BMI is rooted in “eugenics,” which is “the scientifically inaccurate theory that humans can be improved through selective breeding of populations,” according to the National Institute of Human Genome Research.
What is BMI?
First created in the mid-1800s by a Belgian mathematician named Lambert Adolphe Jacques Quetelet, BMI has been the international standard for measuring obesity since 1980, according to many sources, although some experts have questioned the its validity
A person’s BMI is calculated by dividing their weight by the square of their height in feet.
The American Medical Association (AMA) now discourages the use of body mass index, or BMI, as a means of assessing body fat. (iStock)
For example, someone who is 5’5″ and 135 pounds would have a BMI of 23.2.
On the BMI scale, any number below 18.5 is considered underweight, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
A measurement between 18.5 and less than 25 is within the healthy weight range.
Someone with a BMI between 25 and 30 is considered overweight.
Any measurement 30 or higher indicates obesity, while a number above 40 qualifies as severe obesity, according to the BMI scale.
Some say BMI is linked to “white supremacy” and “history of damage”
The Florida-based National Eating Disorders Alliance has expressed support for the WADA’s recommendation to de-emphasize BMI.
It also called for it to be removed entirely “because of its racist and sexist standards and long history of harm, including harm to the most marginalized in our communities.”
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“We advocate for the recognition of weight diversity and hope that the medical field will prioritize health measurement tools that take into account the many factors that contribute to and affect a person’s health status,” said Dr. Katie Mittelstaedt, clinical consultant and group outreach. in a statement to Fox News Digital.
Another eating disorder support organization, Project HEAL in Brooklyn, New York, echoes claims that BMI is rooted in racism.
First created in the mid-1800s, BMI has been the international standard for measuring obesity since the 1980s. (iStock)
“BMI is based on research from the 1830s intended solely to study populations of white European men and does not have the medical relevance or authority it was intended to have,” said Serena Nangia, spokesperson for the Project HEAL, in a statement to Fox. Digital news.
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“BMI has imprecisely held up for decades as the gold standard for measuring health, but its origins, as well as its uses, are rooted in white supremacy.”
“It’s not racist, it’s called good medicine,” says the doctor
Dr. Marc Siegel, a professor of medicine at NYU Langone Medical Center and a Fox News medical contributor, spoke out against the AMA’s position on “The Ingraham Angle” earlier this week.
“I didn’t think the WADA would get involved in the cancellation culture, but now they’re canceling the body mass index, which is what I’m looking at to at least get me started in the direction of the obesity,” he said. .
The WADA’s call to abolish BMI could inhibit the ability to get insurance companies to pay for obesity treatment, a doctor has warned. (iStock)
The doctor said he uses BMI as a basic guideline to determine if a patient is in a category that requires closer monitoring.
“It’s not racist, it’s called good medicine,” he said.
Dr. Siegel said he believes the AMA’s new policy was driven by the body positivity movement, but warned that removing the BMI measure is a step in the “wrong direction” and could “lead to health outcomes”.
“We don’t have enough prevention as it is, and we’re moving away from prevention,” he said.
Eliminating the BMI measure is a step in the “wrong direction.”
The doctor warned that the WADA’s call to abolish BMI could inhibit the ability to get insurance companies to pay for obesity treatment.
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While Siegel agrees with the AMA’s assertion that visceral fat, which is the fat found in the abdomen, is the type of most concern, he said he still relies on BMI as general indication of whether someone is at increased risk of diabetes. heart disease, cancer and high blood pressure.
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“I don’t need someone to pull a tool out of my toolbox, and that’s what they’re doing here,” he said.
“This is politics, not medicine.”
Melissa Rudy is a health editor and member of the lifestyle team at Fox News Digital.
