The “woke” American Medical Association would like to see the world do away with a standard measuring tool that Americans have used for years to gauge whether they are at a healthy weight.
The largest collective of physicians has called on the body mass index value to be replaced with an alternative, citing its “racist” roots.
The BMI has been used in some form or another for two centuries by people across the globe to gauge whether they are over or underweight.
The scale takes into an individual’s height and weight and assigns them a score that is generally considered a good jumping-off point to a longer life.
The target area for a healthy weight has always fallen between 18.5 and 24.9, per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Those with a score below 18.5 are considered underweight while those with a score of 25 to 29.9 are considered overweight. Individuals who score 30 or higher are considered obese.
The index has its faults, as it does not take into account some factors that could be important on an individual basis.
For example, a man of any ethnicity with a great deal of muscle mass and almost no body fat who stands at 6 feet tall and weighs 220 pounds would be considered almost obese with a BMI of 29.8.
Under the scale, Tennessee Titans running back Derrick Henry, who stands at 6’3” and weighs 247 pounds is surprisingly considered obese with a BMI of 30.9.
Do you believe the COVID lockdowns contributed to America’s obesity epidemic?
Yes: 94% (44 Votes)
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If you don’t follow sports, that’s OK. Here is what Henry looks like:
Derrick Henry with an early contender for best off-season workout pics pic.twitter.com/2vcpSkFLol
— Luke Sawhook 🪚🪝 (@lukesawhook) February 26, 2023
Henry is one of the leanest and quickest players in the NFL and is objectively an ideal example of someone who is healthy.
Women who routinely use strength training to build muscle could similarly and unfairly be labeled overweight or even obese. That is especially true if there is an absence of visceral fat that tends to lead to disease.
But other than the rare exceptions to the rule, the BMI is the standard in regard to assisting people who either need to lose a few pounds or could benefit from putting on some healthy weight.
The AMA, in its latest assessment of the index, did not get right into citing the BMI’s potential to blindly assign scores that could be inaccurate for some people.
In fact, the lobbying group just branded the system as irredeemably racist and called for it to be replaced.
“[The] issues with using body mass index (BMI) as a measurement because: (a) of the eugenics behind the history of BMI, (b) of the use of BMI for racist exclusion, and (c) BMI cutoffs are based on the imagined ideal Caucasian and does not consider a person’s gender or ethnicity,” the group said.
The kooky “progressive” group eventually got around in the review to call for the use of other factors when gauging health and wellness.
These included sensible suggestions such as taking into account relative fat mass, waist circumference and other individual factors which can skew the index.
But health is something that can and should always be discussed between a person and their physician.
The BMI is just there to help as it has been for years with no problems.
While the AMA drew some valid conclusions, the group really undermined its own credibility when it opened by branding the BMI a byproduct of “racist exclusion.”
It is a sad state of affairs when Americans can no longer trust the conclusions of doctors. Like so much of the country, the AMA has become obsessed with skin color and the ideologies pushed by the left.
In November 2021, the lobbying group actually vowed to take on “structural racism” and “white supremacy.”
Just 18 months later, the only thing the group has managed to defeat is its own reputation.
Institutions across the country have been taken over by “woke” activists who are obsessed with pushing the divisive politics of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
In the case of the AMA, the group is essentially telling people who do not go to a doctor regularly — and who are not Derrick Henry — that if they don’t like the number they see when they step on a scale to gaslight themselves into believing it’s wrong.
That isn’t helpful to anyone.
