Post # 4

After reading your questions, it made me also want to know who invented the BMI? Where is it used? How many doctors use this calculation? So I looked at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_mass_index#Global_statistics and found this,

The BMI was invented sometime between 1830 and 1850 by Adolphe Quetelet. The BMI has been used for approximately 163-183 years. There are scientists that also feel that this BMI calculation needs to be revised. For example professor Eric Oliver which is from University of Chicago. In 2010 there was a study that followed 11,000 people for eight years and found out that the BMI was not a creditable source for deaths n heart attacks and strokes. This study felt that waist to hip was a more creditable way to predict heart disease deaths. It goes on to say how this is not a good source because it says that fit and athletic people are overweight when they are not but because muscle weighs more than fat. I looked on many different websites and I could not find the reason BMI is different all around the word.

I kept looking trying to find out if BMI is used by more doctors or if the waist to hip ratio is to predict if you are considered to be a health risk or not and found that they are saying no more doctors are beginning to use waist to hip ratio. The reason they are doing this is it’s easier for them to see what your genetics are by where you carry majority of your weight on this web site. http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/treatments/healthy_living/your_weight/whatis_bmi.shtml

With this new information I found I am curious then why are they still making a big deal with the BMI? How accurate is the waist to hip? Is this a way to scare the world to be healthy?