Huh? How did your post address the usefulness of BMI?
Not stupid, no. Bought and paid for by the diet industry.
http://www.obesitymyths.com/myth1.3.htm
*Many of America’s most influential obesity experts receive significant financial support from the $46 billion weight-loss industry. These experts help drive obesity hype by churning out a steady stream of studies, alarmist public pronouncements, and treatment guidelines.
The notion that 65 percent of Americans are overweight or obese derives in part from a 1998 decision to redefine “overweight,” which cast more than 35 million Americans into that category. This decision was made by a National Institutes of Health obesity panel chaired by Xavier Pi-Sunyer, one of the most influential obesity researchers in the country.
Over the years, Pi-Sunyer has received support from virtually every leading weight-loss company, including Novartis, Sanofi-Aventis, Ortho-McNeil, Wyeth-Ayerst, Knoll, Weight Watchers, and Roche. He has served on the advisory boards of Wyeth-Ayerst, Knoll, Abbott, Johnson & Johnson, and McNeil Nutritionals. He once headed up the Weight Watchers Foundation and is currently a board member of that organization. Pi-Sunyer gave the “obesity overview” presentation on behalf of Knoll, maker of the weight-loss drug Meridia, at a 1996 FDA advisory panel hearing on the drug. He has also been paid to sign his name to ghost-written journal articles used to promote the dangerous weight-loss combination known as “fen-phen.”
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*t’s crucial to point out that although people weigh more than they have in the past, having the label of ‘overweight’ or ‘obese’ doesn’t necessarily equate to ill health. Various studies have indicated that yo-yo dieting can be more detrimental to our health than being categorized as ‘overweight’. (Many studies have shown that conditions frequently attributed to obesity such as diabetes, gall bladder problems and hypertension are actually strongly correlated with yo-yo dieting.) Furthermore, we need to critically examine what ‘overweight’ and ‘obese’ really mean. These labels are derived from the flawed BMI (Body Mass Index) chart that excludes important factors such as age, metabolism rate, muscle mass and physical build. As Susie Orbach states in her book Bodies this unsound tool categorizes Brad Pitt as ‘overweight’ and George Clooney as ‘obese’.
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But let’s not be fooled by the obesity stats. It is now well established that the construction of a disease entity called Obesity is a money maker for the food and diet industry (the latter usually owned by the former as it happens). The International Obesity Task Force sound very worthy but they were set up and funded by an industry that grows big profits from selling services to those who believe they are the wrong size.
*
http://suite101.com/article/a-look-into-the-60-billion-diet-industry-a399854
*According to Marketdata, the U.S. weight loss market made $60.9 billion in sales in 2010. The Center for Consumer Freedom (CCF) reported back in 2005 the weight loss industry was a mere $46 billion. We all know obesity is a serious health concern and a growing problem in America, but what exactly are Americans being told to cause sales in the weight loss industry to spike so high so rapidly?
What is Overweight? What is Obese? BMI Redefined.
BMI, or Body Mass Index, is based on a calculation using height and weight. If you go by the old BMI guidelines being overweight was defined as having a BMI of 27.8 for men and 27.3 for women. In 1998, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) redefined BMI. Under the new BMI guidelines overweight is classified as having a BMI between 25 and 29.9 and if you have a BMI of 30 or more you are classified as obese. When the new government standard took effect 35 million more Americans qualified as overweight even though their weight was once considered “normal”.
The Reasons for Redefining BMI
So was there a reason to redefine BMI and make millions of Americans outraged? The Newark Star-Ledger reported that the people behind the decision of BMI redefinition have some type of financial ties to the weight loss industry, meaning they either work as consultants to pharmaceutical companies, receive research money or are advisors to popular weight loss chains. *
And in fact the original 1835 definition of "obese’ was lowered, to make even more people “obese”. Hell, they are not even comparing you to 1835 French peasants anymore.
Oh, look, HAES logic and conspiracy logic!
The hell? How do you go from “our definition of obese is from 1835” to “our definition of obese is from the diet industry”? Seriously. Do you think we are the stupidest people on the face of the earth? If you’re going to spout bullshit, at least try to be consistent.
I’d like to know more about this myself as I’d have thought most of the stations have elevators. Of course, the city being as crowded and hurried as it is, it wouldn’t surprise me if most people there would rather take the stairs than wait for an elevator.
A lot of stations, especially the larger ones with multiple lines or that are busy express stops, do have elevators, but it’s definitely not most. Looking at that map I’m actually a bit surprised at how many lines have very few elevators. You’re pretty much fucked on the L train.
And yeah, you only see people waiting for the elevators if they are disabled/carrying bags/suitcases/strollers/etc. By the time the elevator arrives you would already have been able to walk up the stairs and be out on the street. No one wants to wait in the subway unless they have to.
Well considering that there never was a definition of obesity in 1835* and that Mel Gibson at 5 f 11i and about 190 lb does not have a BMI that is obese, I am not sure why this inconsistency is particularly bothersome.
Once again, the BMI a great tool for studying populations and an adequate tool for screening individuals.
On a population level the numbers of people whose weight over height squared is over 30 and whose result is over 40 have both increased dramatically over the last several decades (albeit levelling off in the last several years). The change, 25 years ago, of what result was labelled as “overweight” does not change what these numbers were/are and did not cause more adults to become obese.
On an individual level the amount of fat free mass, the location of the fat, the level of fitness, various metabolic markers, are all much better indicators of future health risks than BMI alone. That said individuals over 30 are very likely to do poorly on many of those markers (not all of those individuals), individuals over 35 even more likely. It is of course also true that some individuals at “normal” BMIs will do poorly on those markers too; the BMI is not a perfect screening tool, just an adequate one, one still felt to be more practical and consistent than others available (albeit there is some debate about that, with some believing that various anthropomorphic ratios perform better).
The fact remains that over several decades the numbers of people with BMIs in the 30 plus and the 40 plus ranges have increased. Unless one wants to posit that suddenly there is an epidemic of extreme bodybuilding, the explanation for the increase of that over 30 crowd is more fatness (and there is no other explanation for the over 40 crowd). The question of the op remains: why?
*The BMI as a tool was created, identifying that weights over ht squared spread then typical populations over a normal distribution - no terms of what was overweight or obese were suggested, and that normal distribution was again found at the point that the terms were suggested in the modern era.
Yeah, but you know it always looks bigger in the picture. That “quarter pounder” is net weight before cooking. So really it’s like eating, ummm, 7 1/2 straight cheeseburgers. So, ya know, hardly a snack.
Obesogens are under intensive study lately.
I’m still waiting for them to discover the obesogen that makes people eschew exercise while craving gigantic portions and multiple servings.
From our friends at The Onion:
It’s glandular alright,
the glands are stuffed with burritos!
thank you Jay!
Don’t forget one of the biggest factors in keeping people fat: Fatlogic.