Weight Maven

I’ve posted before why I think BMI is problematic. Now there’s a new reason: using BMI may lead to a “massive underdiagnosis” of obesity:

A retrospective analysis of 1,234 Americans indicated a substantial underdiagnosis of obesity when Body Mass Index (BMI) was used compared to the Dual Engergy X-ray Absorptiometry (DEXA) scan.

The details will be released later in April, but overall, this is another set of data whose subjects might be considered normal weight obese.

One question is how do people get to be this way? I don’t know for sure, but I’d bet money on dieting being a likely cause. Another question is whether this phenomenon is related to the idea of weight loss and mortality risk, but that’s for another time.

For me, this is just another good reason to focus less on BMI or weight and more on what we eat — especially since I think the evidence is mounting that it’s what we eat and not our weight that leads to the majority of problems attributed to obesity.

I know there are very mixed opinions about Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution, but I think he made a very good point on Oprah yesterday (emphasis mine):

But you’ve got to remember I’m not doing a diet show, … This is about real food. This is about health. … There are just as many unhealthy skinny people. We can’t just label it as obesity.

Exactly. This is the point I hope someone makes to MeMe Roth the next time she’s on my tee-vee!