Many people believe that the Body Mass Index (BMI) is a useful indicator of health, but research paints a much uglier and more racist picture.
The BMI
was created in the 1800s, at the onset of the eugenics and racist science movement.
The creator of the measure was not a doctor, and he intended for this measurement to gauge average body ratios of white Europeans at the population level - not to use for individual medical assessments.
Sign now to tell the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH): it's time to update BMI guidelines and educate both the public and healthcare providers!Even the creator of the BMI never envisioned it as an accurate measurement of individual health, and was explicitly excluding all other racial and ethnic groups. In fact,
he literally said that BMI cannot and should not be used to determine the "fatness" of an individual.Yet the overwhelming majority of American medical providers still rely on this junk science measurement. And without a clear and comprehensive set of guidelines, healthcare providers will continue to use this BMI into the future. Thankfully, the
American Medical Association is finally taking a stand to de-emphasize BMI, and it is time the NIH creates similar guidelines to better educate the public and medical providers!
Continuing to use the BMI might seem harmless, but it is not. BMI can sometimes be used to
deny people joint replacements and other necessary surgeries. It is also clearly fatphobic. This hyper focus on body size and appearance over
actual measures of health
misleads physicians about where to focus their medical attention. Such distractions and misdirections can prove dangerous.
It is time for the NIH to follow in the American Medical Association's recommendations, step up, and de-emphasize the BMI! Sign the petition now if you agree!