How The Body Mass Index Is Based On Sexism And Racism

The Body Mass Index, or BMI, is a weight-to-height ratio used by health care providers, insurance companies, and the scientific community.

But according to HuffPost, criticism of the BMI is mounting.

It's being called out for being both sexist and racist.

The BMI was created by Belgian mathematician Adolphe Quetelet in 1832, using data from predominantly European men.

Physiologist Ancel Keys reintroduced the scale in 1972 as the Body Mass Index, and it has since been adopted by the medical community.

However, critics say the BMI is merely an extrapolation of statistics based on white European men, applied erroneously to women and persons of color Furthermore, the BMI doesn’t take body composition of fat versus muscle into account.

Also, a person’s weight doesn’t correlate directly with their health.

BMI has been widely adopted by the medical world as a shorthand for healthy or unhealthy.

That fact is unscientific and harmful.

Dr. Jennifer Gaudiani, MD Eating Disorder Specialist, Denver, Colorado