**TL;DR- The Body Mass Index, or BMI, is outdated, highly flawed and even discriminatory, despite still being promoted today as a way of measuring whether or not your weight is healthy, when in fact, it does more harm than good.** The BMI chart was invented in 1832 by Adolphe Quetelet to measure weight differences, and in his research, he used mostly white European men. His chart did not take into account [muscle mass, bone density, overall body composition or differences in women and people of colour] (https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/265215#An-example-of-the-biggest-flaw-in-using-BMI). It was also not even intended for the way we use it today, in addition to Quetelet himself not even being in the medical profession. This makes it a wholly ineffective scale, and even harmful to non-white people, women, and especially women of colour as it is [racist, and also sexist, to use mostly white men within your study population and then try to extrapolate that and create norms and expectations for women and people of color] (https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/bmi-scale-racist-health_l_5f15a8a8c5b6d14c336a43b0). Yes, Quetelete’s data may have been viewed as acceptable back in the 19th century, but why are we still using this method today? It is evident that this archaic BMI scale can cause harm, particularly to Black women, as seen in Maya Lorde’s case: > [‘I have felt bad about my weight my entire life, thinking I was always unhealthy and fat. That is not actually true. So, while I was striving for the perfect BMI, I was destroying my body and my self-image'] (https://themighty.com/2020/07/bmi-measure-racist-sexist-harming-black-women/). Aside from the racist, sexist origins of BMI, it is also inaccurate, as a study published by the RAND Corporation showed that the [waist size explained the higher type 2 diabetes rate in the USA than the UK, not BMI](https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/265215#An-example-of-the-biggest-flaw-in-using-BM). So in reality, we should be moving on from this highly flawed scale. As Adele Jackson-Gibson states in *Good Housekeeping*, [given how diverse human beings are, it's logical that pushing all individuals to maintain the same body standards would lead to trouble](https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/health/diet-nutrition/a35047103/bmi-racist-history/). We can’t squish everybody into this 19th century system when it doesn’t even cater to and consider the individual. Also, a person’s weight does not determine their health.

The Body Mass Index is meant to measure humans' health and curb the spread of obesity. It is measured by an individual's weight by his or her height squared. Obesity is a problem thanks to the popularity of fast food and the increasing costs to eat healthy. Per the National Institutes of Health (NIH), a low BMI ensures one does not risk heart diseases, high blood pressure, diabetes, and other diseases obesity contributes. But according to a viral letter by Tessa Embry, a 14-year old who was classified as obese despite actively playing softball, the BMI does not account for muscle mass, bone structure and fat distribution. These are vital aspects of their bodies people take into account as they manage their health. The biggest reason we are stuck with this system is due to the lack of sufficient alternative. According to Harvard School of Public Health's page on measuring obesity, alternatives include the waist circumference, measuring the circumference of the abdomen, or the waist-to-hip ratio, measuring the waist and the hip and dividing the waist measurement by the hip. But they each have their own limitations. The BMI method is not always wrong. But, as Albert Sun notes in The New York Times, it unnecessarily forces people to pay higher insurance premiums. So, the method is a proponent of systemic body shaming. A wrong BMI may also accidentally classify an obese person as thin. After all, it only focuses on two aspects, size and weight, and limits the broader scope of how people manage their health. Therefore, we should not be reliant on the BMI to tell us how healthy we might actually be. CITATIONS Belluz, Julia. “Why BMI Is a Flawed Measure of Body Fat, Explained by an Eloquent 14-Year-Old.” Vox, 6 Apr. 2016, www.vox.com/2016/4/6/11377158/bmi-flaws-tessa-embry. “Measuring Obesity.” Obesity Prevention Source, 12 Apr. 2016, www.hsph.harvard.edu/obesity-prevention-source/obesity-definition/how-to-measure-body-fatness/#computerized-tomography. Sun, Albert. “How Often Is B.M.I. Misleading?” The New York Times, 4 Sept. 2015, www.nytimes.com/interactive/projects/cp/summer-of-science-2015/latest/how-often-is-bmi-misleading?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur.

**TL;DR - BMI is very limited. Its normal to have a high or low BMI and still be healthy, and it doesn't take into account family history or habits.** Yeah I agree, the BMI frequently misclassifies health. Its very usual to be considered overweight but also having a healthy cardiovascular profile. We should recognize that BMI itself is not measuring general health or a physiological state like resting blood pressure, or any state that indicates the presence of disease. It is simply a measure of size using your height and weight. Its actually counter-productive in my opinion. Plenty of people have a high or low BMI and are healthy and, compared to many people with a normal BMI which are actually unhealthy. Theoretically, a person with a normal BMI who smokes and has a family history of cardiovascular disease may have a higher risk of early cardiovascular death than someone who has a high BMI but is a physically fit non-smoker. Bottom line is that as a single measure, BMI is clearly not a perfect measure of health, it has limitations. Works Cited [1] How useful is the body mass index (BMI)? https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/how-useful-is-the-body-mass-index-bmi-201603309339

Although the BMI is certainly an imperfect system, scientific research identifies that it can be useful to estimate an individual’s risk of chronic diseases. [Healthline’s website](https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/is-bmi-accurate#downsides) summarises the results of many different studies that suggest BMI can be partially useful: • People in the ‘obese’ BMI category had a 20% increased risk of death from all causes and heart disease, compared with those in the ‘normal’ BMI category. • People who have a BMI of 30.0 or greater had 1.5–2.7 times greater risk of death after a 30-year follow-up. • People in the ‘underweight’ or ‘severely/extremely obese’ categories died an average of 6.7 years and 3.7 years earlier, compared with those in the ‘normal’ BMI category. The BMI can often be used as a general snapshot of a person’s risk of chronic disease, so it is not a completely inappropriate indicator of health. However, its flaws should be recognised and the BMI should not be the only diagnostic tool used when accessing the general health of an individual.

Flawed, yes. Discriminatory, how?

BMI is flawed due to the nature of muscle's extra weight. But is it discriminatory? No. You may feel offended that someone would suggest you are, in scientific fact, overweight, but that doesn't make it any less true, and its your healthcare provider's job to give you the bitter truth if it means saving or improving your life.

Flawed yes, but not discriminatory. It’s only flawed as it’s not really an accurate way to gauge a persons’s overall physical health (for some, not all).

It is OK to be overweight and healthy.But most people that are overweight or not healthy if you are 600 pounds and 18 cheeseburgers a day you are definitely not healthy. BMI is not discriminate it is not intended to be it is not intended to tell you that you were fat it’s a scientific number it is not here to put you down. But if you are overweight then don’t feel bad when your index is higher because you’re overweight

I wouldn’t necessarily use the word “discriminatory” but I would say it doesn’t look at skeletal mass, muscle mass and whatever other mass on your body alongside the fat. I have a lot of muscle mass but I’m considered overweight. However, because of that, I highly agree that it should be taken down and redone to check all bases and not just “entire body”. Every single human body has so many different variants of genetics, backgrounds and diets. BMI is not a “one size fits all”.