Everything is Arbitrary

BMI

Episode Summary

The BMI is not a measure of willpower. Or a measure of health. It was designed in the 1800s to work out the proportions of the average human and make predictions about what this theoretical person would get up to. Find out about what BMIs are useful for, as well as what makes it limited.

Episode Notes

Apologies: I mispronounced Nick Trefethen's name. And possibly other names too. There was also an audio glitch at 24mins that's fixed now.

Royalty free music from Danosongs

Sources/Related Links:

• https://people.maths.ox.ac.uk/trefethen/bmi.html
• https://www.theguardian.com/science/the-h-word/2014/jan/16/body-mass-index--discovered-by-a-belgian-astronomer-
• https://etherwave.wordpress.com/2009/06/04/hump-day-history-adolphe-quetelet-statistics-and-social-physics/
• https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/australias-health/australias-health-2018/contents/bmi-where-do-you-fit
• https://slate.com/technology/2009/07/why-are-doctors-still-measuring-obesity-with-the-body-mass-index.html
• https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/how-useful-is-the-body-mass-index-bmi-201603309339
• https://www.self.com/story/weight-bias-and-health-care
• https://www.glamour.com/story/weight-stigma-is-keeping-patients-from-getting-the-care-they-need
• https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/08/170803092015.htm
• https://www.who.int/social_determinants/sdh_definition/en/
• https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/26/health/obese-patients-health-care.html
• https://healthfeedback.org/evaluation/scientists-discuss-widely-shared-huffington-post-article-everything-you-know-obesity-wrong-michael-hobbes/
• https://highline.huffingtonpost.com/articles/en/everything-you-know-about-obesity-is-wrong/
• https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB105761372351532900
• https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2017/12/19/16742884/weight-loss-bariatric-surgery-pros-cons-stories
• https://medium.com/the-establishment/my-friends-would-rather-have-their-guts-cut-open-than-be-like-me-95a33a96d400
• http://suethsayings.blogspot.com/2017/04/the-dark-side-of-gastric-sleeve.html
• https://www.healthline.com/health/what-its-like-to-live-with-atypical-anorexia#3