Member-only story
Body Mass Index Means Nothing
It’s just another tool to inflate your insurance premiums
I went into the doctor with my six year old daughter. She does nothing but run and do pull-ups. She absolutely loves the jungle gym. The whole time we were there, the doctor said things like, “Wow, she sure is strong!” I was delighted and proud of course.
Then came the kicker.
At the end of the check-up, the doctor consulted his chart. “Oh, just so you know, her BMI is a little high.”
But you just said…
“Well, yeah,” I said, “but you just said she’s super strong, a high BMI probably just reflects the extra weight of her muscle right?”
At that point the doctor’s authority conditioning kicked in and he decided to try and give me a lecture.
“Well, we find BMI is a great indicator of…”
I held up my hand. I’ve heard all the nonsensical conditioning from corrupt pharmaceutical and insurance companies before.
It’s just a ratio
“BMI is a ratio of weight to height. You get it from dividing your weight in kilograms by the square of your height in meters, right?”