So for a while, I've been trying to lose weight and I have always been "obese" according to BMI when I was size 10 due to my height. I now have a better grip on when I am my healthiest/how to lose fat in a healthy way (diet/working out).
I don't know if this has ever been raised before on Mumsnet but I find it crazy that people still don't know that BMI was developed using flawed, Eurocentric data and applied universally without considering differences in body composition. I've pulled some info together - what are your thoughts??
BMI Was Created Using White European Data:
Developed in the 19th century by Adolphe Quetelet, BMI was based on measurements from white European men. It was never intended to be a diagnostic tool for individual health but was later misapplied in medicine without adjusting for racial and ethnic diversity.
It Was Tested Using Data from Enslaved Black People:
In the 19th century, racist pseudoscience influenced how body measurements were used. Scientists like Louis Agassiz and Samuel Morton collected data from enslaved African people to argue that Black individuals had fundamentally different (and supposedly inferior) bodies compared to white Europeans. This racial bias informed later medical standards, including BMI, reinforcing false ideas about Black physiology.
BMI Ignores Racial Differences in Body Composition:
BMI assumes that all bodies store fat, muscle, and bone in the same way, but research shows that:
- Black individuals tend to have higher muscle mass and bone density, leading to overestimations of obesity and health risks.
- Asian populations often have higher health risks at lower BMIs, meaning they might be underdiagnosed for conditions like diabetes or heart disease.