We live in a wonderful time of technological accessibility. Nearly all the information we could ever need is one search away. This wealth of information paired with today’s unprecedented realm of convenience has been shown to cause a conundrum of sorts in the field of healthcare. We see the line between a trained medical expert and a thorough internet researcher becoming treacherously blurred. This abundance of information can be dangerous without the expertise to provide accurate interpretation. One example of this seen in the nutritional field is the Body Mass Index.
The Body Mass Index (BMI) was developed to be a very simply calculation to quantify body composition. Though it is a common tool used by medical professionals, it can also be used by anyone who can crunch a few numbers on his/her calculator. Medical professionals have varying opinions on the tool; some see it as an excellent resource, while others fear its convenience and ease creates a means to a potentially inaccurate self-diagnosis.
The calculation was created to be a tool that very simply offers an idea of one’s body composition by creating a weight to height ratio and comparing it to a scale ranging from underweight to obese. The problem is, as all professionals will agree, there is much more to a person’s body composition than their height and their weight. This becomes a problem when the public, though well-intended, begins to punch in their own numbers into this equation. Without the interpretation of an expert, they could come to some extreme conclusions.
Humans possess an enormously varied spectrum of body shapes and sizes, and yet the BMI scale tries to standardize it. Variance is an idea that is being lost in this age of standardization. While the BMI scale can be very useful as an initial tool, it is flawed. The best example of this are athletes. LeBron James, widely regarded as one of the top athletes in the world has a BMI of 28. At the 2014 Olympics, the average BMI for participating athletes was found to be over 26. In 2016, the World Champion Denver Broncos had a collective average BMI of over 30. The healthy range for BMI? That would be 18.5-24.9. According to the scale, LeBron James and Olympic athletes are overweight, while the entirety of the Denver Broncos is obese.
The BMI scale can be dangerous without proper interpretation. As with WebMD and many more, these easily accessible tools have evolved from something designed for convenience to something that has led to insufficiently educated self-diagnosing. We see people without any medical education jumping to their own medical conclusions far too often. While a useful and convenient tool, the Body Mass Index can be problematic for the growing number of people who are turning to the internet to assess their health. As a general public, we lack the understanding and education to properly interpret BMI results. If you would like to learn more about your own BMI and/or your body composition and what it means, please schedule an appointment with Kelsey Raml, dietitian at Brown Clinic. She can assess, review, and educate on your individual needs and help you reach your goals!
-David Brown, SDSU Dietetic Student