BMI SCALE BULL$#!%

In which I rant about fat & dollaz. http://www.facebook.com/officiallacig...

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In this video, I deconstruct the widely accepted usage of the Body Mass Index scale in the medical field. Premised on the understanding that many bodies do not fit into the BMI's prediction of health, I unravel the history of the BMI and how it became integrated into the mainstream in the USA. I talk about why the BMI scale fails as a measure of health and conclude, based upon its history, that the BMI stays in effect because it is more profitable than a healthier, more holistic standard.

SOURCES & FURTHER READING
Redux recalled as unsafe after 6M claims -
http://www.productliabilitylawyer.com...

Rush toward new weight-loss drugs tramples patients' health - http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html...

CCF report on redefinition of "overweight" to benefit the diet industry & interested panelists -
http://www.obesitymyths.com/downloads...

Why the BMI is bogus -
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/st...

Fat and healthy, not an oxymoron -
http://eng.feministblogs.org/tag/bmi/

The BMI Project, illustrating the BMI's ineffectiveness -
http://kateharding.net/bmi-illustrated/

Penn & Teller's BULLSHIT!: Obesity (S5xE01)

Primary data - the CDC on BMI: http://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/asse...

• Category

  Education

[Silver Phoenix]

the thing is, that muscles are heavier than fat.. so if you're really athletic, you will probably be classified as obese. FAIL. 

[popdiva3001]

Dude body fat percentage, fat calipers, a doctor actually doing his job and testing you to see how healthy you are.

[Charlotte Schellens]

we had to calculate our bmi in school, 2 times. i didn't want to do it because i knew it wasn't okay. we had to do it anyway, it's not good for the self-image of kids in school, why do they make us do it? we had to do it in science class, WHY?

[SuperLifestream]

I'm 5' 9" and have very little fat. according to BMI i'm almost overweight (im 24.5 BMI). but my body fat percentage is around 17%. which is just below average (Thank you Gym) but way off over weight

[Pineappletaco]

What people should be concerned about is body fat percentage which measures how much fat you have in relation to how much muscle you have. If someone does have a high body fat percentage then they are in fact overweight/obese and that comes with health risks. If it doesn't involve a machine meant to measure this and is coming from another tool or some brofessor just ignore it and tell them to fuck off.

[Vi-Na Webster]

I'm 5'3 and 120 lbs, so i'm considered obese/overweight. but my actual measurements are 35-24-37, and have really strong legs due to martial arts over the yrs.....

[SirThinksalot14]

I remember my 6th grade gym class finding our individual BMIs and me saying out loud "This is completely stupid. How can this measure health?" And the teacher said "Yea it's a bunch of shit." When someone else asked why we do it he pretty much said everything in this video.

[olufsen98]

According to a doctor my BMI is 14, 4 under what is seen as malnourished. There's no question I'm way to thin, but I was kinda surprised that in my country (Norway), a western country with some of the best health care services in the world, they just found the BMI and said if I don't gain more weight they'll have to give me one of those pipes in your stomach, seemingly without even measuring the other important things that u mentioned here.

[exterminatecake]

Oh, BMI... I've had my own share of crazy shit with the scale. Until very recently, I was classified as "underweight," despite eating more than my parents most of the time. Lately I've just barely slid into the "normal" range (5'5 at about 105 lbs), and yet I now have more body fat than is healthy for my body type, and should really start exercising :P

The point is, "healthy" weights are highly individualized and should be judged on a case-by-case basis!

[wildanimal7722]

I remember my freshman year of high school, my health class taught us that the BMI is really flawed and inaccurate...yet our school uses it to assess students' health. Talk about irony.

[Kikiat2012]

fully agree with this.

all bodybuilders would qualify as obese according to the BMI scale, all that the bmi is, is an average weight to height ratio nothing more nothing less.

looking at body fat percentage would be a lot more accurate to be able to say someone should lose some fat (not weight, but fat)

that said fat people can still be healthier and in better shape then skinny people, but generally being a fat bastard doesn't improve on ones health.