re: More Fatties Than Ever Before in the United States of Inevitable Diabetes

quote:

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i can't clarify this enough

1. There is a rise in obesity
2. It's a problem
3. I DON'T KNOW if BMI is legit or not.
4. I don't care to know

however, when you are defending something by saying "yeah there are a multitude of variables it doesn't take into account"...well, you're going to have skeptics; like me.

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Again, I'll say this: BMI is not a very good indicator of overall health in individuals. It was not designed to be. It is, however, a pretty decent indicator of overall health in entire populations. If, out of 167,000 people polled, 50,000 had a BMI over 30, guess what? It's a pretty good indication that roughly 1/3 of the population has a BMI over 30, which means that, as a general notion, 1/3 of the population is obese.

That said, if your BMI is over 30 because you're 6'2" and weigh 235 lbs and you play linebacker for LSU, then you can probably throw the BMI statistic out the fricking window. It clearly doesn't apply to you on a personal level.