On 5 Jul 2009 at 19:21, Frantz, Sue wrote: > Some years ago (5? 10? 15?)
Beats me. Has it really been that long? > Stephen Black offered his thoughts on the > uselessness of the BMI (my paraphrase). > > Here are the "Top 10 Reasons Why the BMI Is Bogus"according to > "Weekend Edition math guy Keith Devlin." > http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=106268439&sc=fb&cc=fp All good reasons, and thank you for remembering. My concern was with the validation of the BMI: the claim that values considered to indicate overweight or mild obesity are associated with (or cause) increased mortality. This lead to enthusiastic endorsement by the medical establishment that anyone displaying even a minor degree of chubbiness or zaftigity should fear for his/her life and must diet or die. In actuality, the BMI cutoffs were arbitrary rather than well-validated, and data available even back then showed that the curve relating BMI to death was either J-shaped or U-shaped, with a long flat bottom. For some, such as Black women, even high levels of obesity according to BMI were not associated with increased mortality (admitttedly such very high levels are associated with higher risk for the rest of us). This gives me an opportunity to point to a recent article along the same lines recently in the NY Time, citing a Canadian study published in the journal _Obesity_. The headline says it all: "Excess pounds, but not too many, may lead to longer life". Rabin, R. June 25, 2009 http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/26/health/26weight.html Stephen ----------------------------------------------------------------- Stephen L. Black, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology, Emeritus Bishop's University e-mail: [email protected] 2600 College St. Sherbrooke QC J1M 1Z7 Canada Subscribe to discussion list (TIPS) for the teaching of psychology at http://flightline.highline.edu/sfrantz/tips/ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([email protected])
