I think that most people know that the BMI is only a barely useful tool to determine healthy weight, it is too simplistic and is often used with various age ranking schemes that make things worse. But now the American Medical Association is claiming that the BMI is also racist.
In real terms I'm not sure how an index can be racist.
I used, as a starting point, the BMI to help me lose some weight. As I did my research I realized very early on that BMI tended to allow me to carry more than the ideal amount of weight. But I never found that racist.
Excellent reporting from the folks at JUST THE NEWS, which has been one of my 'go to' websites for accurate, low bias (slightly right of center) news and information. If you don't check out their website you are doing yourself a disservice.
justthenews.com
In real terms I'm not sure how an index can be racist.
I used, as a starting point, the BMI to help me lose some weight. As I did my research I realized very early on that BMI tended to allow me to carry more than the ideal amount of weight. But I never found that racist.
Excellent reporting from the folks at JUST THE NEWS, which has been one of my 'go to' websites for accurate, low bias (slightly right of center) news and information. If you don't check out their website you are doing yourself a disservice.
American Medical Association declares use of Body Mass Index is 'racist'
"...AMA recognizes issues with using BMI as a measurement due to its historical harm..."
justthenews.com
American Medical Association declares use of Body Mass Index is 'racist'
"...AMA recognizes issues with using BMI as a measurement due to its historical harm..."
The American Medical Association (AMA) has issued new guidance declaring it is."racist" to use Body Mass Index as a measurement in medicine.
Body Mass Index (BMI) is a measurement long used by medical doctors to categorize an individual's weight as either undeweight, overweight, obese, etc. The process involves dividing a person's weight by their height.
But according to the AMA's newly adopted policy "clarifying" BMI’s role in medicine, BMI is tainted with "historical harm" and perpetuates "racist exclusion," going on to state that it operates "based primarily on data collected from previous generations of non-Hispanic white populations."
"Due to significant limitations associated with the widespread use of BMI in clinical settings," the association wrote in a press release, "the AMA suggests that it be used in conjunction with other valid measures of risk such as, but not limited to, measurements of visceral fat, body adiposity index, body composition, relative fat mass, waist circumference and genetic/metabolic factors."
Obesity has been regarded as a crippling issue in the United States. According to the CDC, American obesity prevalence hit 41.9% in 2017 and is linked to some of the leading causes of preventable or premature death, such as heart disease, stroke, types of cancer, diabetes and more.
