SALT LAKE CITY — If you have ever been discouraged by your body mass index (BMI) measurement, a group of Utah doctors is urging people to look at the bigger picture.
“Black Physicians of Utah” (BPOU) says the metric was developed nearly 200 years ago and was based entirely on research involving white males. The believe that creates flaws when the measurement is used for females or people of color.
“It got modified in the 1950’s here in the United States and globally to be used as a health standard or measure of metabolic risk,” said Dr. Erica Baiden, MD of Black Physicians of Utah.
BMI is calculated by dividing a person’s weight in kilograms by the square of their height in meters.
According to the CDC, a BMI reading between 25 and 29.9 is considered overweight. Any reading 30 or above is considered obese.
“A BMI of 25 to someone like you, may actually be a qualifying obesity to someone of Asian or southeast Asian descent,” Dr. Baiden said.
She added in a case like the example she presented, doctors can miss a cardiovascular or diabetes risk in a patient if relying solely on BMI measurements.
Dr. Baiden and other members of BPOU are encouraging people to look at the bigger picture of health and wellness and not get caught up in the numbers.
“I think BMI is more of a distractor,” she said. “I think based on the education some providers are giving patients, I think it's led to restrictive eating, disorder eating.”
BPOU encourages people to find a way to incorporate these five habits into their daily lives to achieve positive health outcomes:
–drink ample amounts of water
–eat a plant predominant diet
–30 minutes of exercise, five days per week
–6-8 hours of sleep
–taking time for self care, including praying or meditation
“I hope we are looking at more factors and not being distracted by the BMI,” Dr. Baiden said. There are things like waist circumference that we should be looking at more. There are lots of different things that go into a person’s health.”
Saturday, February 25, BPOU is hosting an indoor fitness event at the South Salt Lake Rec Center.
The event is family friendly and will include experts in the fields of personal training and nutrition.
The event runs from 10:30 am until 3:00 pm and will promote total wellness.
More information about Black Physicians of Utah and the indoor fitness day event can be found here.
