Thursday, June 25, 2009

Hey, look, just another reason BMI sucks

This webmd story says...

Rather, the studies generally suggest that people with a BMI of 25 to 29.9
-- which is considered overweight but not obese -- have a survival advantage
over people with higher or lower BMIs.

BMI, which is a measure of body fat based on a person's height and weight, is used to classify people into weight categories -- underweight, normal weight, overweight, and obese.


That's pretty much OK for yours truly, with a BMI of 28.6. But if the BMIs between 25 to 29.9 live the longest, is <25 really "normal?"

More...

Compared to people who fell into the normal-weight category:

Those classified as underweight were 73% more likely to die.

Those classified as extremely obese with BMI of 35 or greater were 36% more likely to die.

Those classified as obese with BMI 30-34.9 had about the same risk of death.

Those classified as overweight with BMI 25-29.9 were 17% less likely to die.

The study appears online this week in the journal Obesity.

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