Comments on: The skinny on the Body Mass Index (BMI)

By: M Parrott

M Parrott — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 16:45:21 +0000

Ken, my dear, I am British, so a “Football player” is a “soccer player” to you.

As for the muscles versus fat bit you are absolutely correct; I was wrong about how much more it weighed. Muscles weighs around 18% more and I shall be in contact with Andy shortly to get modified. However I disagree that it puts the whole thing into question. My other points still stand and surely my willingness to modify the post after something I have said is shown to be wrong gives some credibility?

It doesn’t matter if the BMI is non-intrusive, it’s still being used and abused to make people feel bad about themselves. People wonder why so many kids have anorexia and bulimia nervossa blaming it on tv and adverts when the government is pounding into our heads that we are all overweight and they are doing this with a ridiculous measurement. It is not created to be used as a way to say if you are over-weight and therefore should not be used so.

Humanity is a beautiful thing skinny or not. You are either the creation of a higher being or evolution depending on your beliefs. Either way that’s fantastically amazing. Your skin cells alone are something to be astonished at. Don’t feel bad because society tells you you’re fat.

By: Ken McFarlane

Ken McFarlane — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 16:07:11 +0000

A correction: “A *pint* of body fat weighs about 15 ounces.” A pound is only 15 ounces in today’s packaging. Canned goods (tomatoes, beans) used to come in 1-pound cans.

By: Ken McFarlane

Ken McFarlane — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 16:04:13 +0000

When an item makes a statement that is clearly wrong, it calls into question every statement in the article. It is ridiculous to say “muscle weighs … at least four times more than fat.”
Muscle density is about 15% more than that of fat tissue, not 300% as ‘four times’ suggests. A pint of muscle would weigh about 18 ounces, and a pound of body fat about 15 ounces.

As for football players being ‘healthy,’ NFL player average life expectancy is less than 60, compared with nearly 80 for the general population. So much for ‘healthy.’

BMI is used because it is easy and non-intrusive to measure and that’s important for large studies. Other measures, like waist-to-hip ratio or body fat fraction are sometimes proposed as a standard, but also have issues. Some would not agree to undress completely and be immersed in water up to the neck to participate in a study.

By: Barbara McNichol

Barbara McNichol — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 21:19:42 +0000

Thanks for your references. I did a little research on the BMI for my daughter who is almost 8. She is very active and not the least bit plump in appearance but she is tall for her age. The “ideal” BMI for kids is calculated by age so her BMI (21) puts her in the obese category. I did some more calculations. At the same height and weight she would be overweight at 10 and healthy at 12. To get her to a healthy BMI she would have to lose 10 lbs. Believe me she does not have 10 lbs to spare. I have 10 lbs to spare, though I have a “healthy” BMI so I know what 10 lbs to spare looks like.

By: Alida Ryerson

Alida Ryerson — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 12:56:16 +0000

So the word is spreading along with our waists… NPR this morning had their mathematician reveal the fallacy of the BMI. It was pleasing to be able to say to my friend… Oh I knew that already…..

Thanks for your efforts. I look forward to the broadcasts.