CDC: Modestly overweight have lower risk of death

[AStudent]

Let me preface this. I'm not advocating that everyone run out and start eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner at Burger King.

I myself have a BMI of ~28 (5'9'' 180lbs) and I run and workout everyday. I have somewhat toned muscles and I eat a healthy diet. I've always been kind of offended by the government term "overweight" to describe me...who decide's that >25 is overweight? Thoughout history having a (using current science) BMI of 25-30 was considered healthy, so why does the government insist on labeling people as overweight and overestimating the number of deaths every year due to obesity?


http://www.cnn.com/2005/HEALTH/diet.fitness/04/20/obesity.deaths.ap/index.html

Ben Wallace: BMI >25

Shaq: BMI >30

Matt Leinart (Heisman Winner): BMI >25

Braylon Edwards: BMI >25
http://www.mgoblue.com/images/athletes/edwards.jpg

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[PTPoeny]

If you read the guidelines they do state that BMI is not accurate for athletes or for people with unusually large or small body frames. The idea was to have a really easy way for the average person to get an idea where they stand.

Percent body fat is a much better guide for anyone and essential for athletes.

 

[PineappleGirl]

Yeah, I just had a physical and my doc was like, you have to take the BMI with a bit of a grain of salt. He told me he was "overweight" according to the BMI, but in my opinion, he looks quite slim.

As someone else said too, the BMI does not account for muscle, so, of course, athletes will have a higher BMI as muscle weighs more than fat.

 

[myodana]

it's been written OVER AND OVER that BMI is not an accurate measure of body composition for certain body types. if you're talking about the average joe who is not in spectacular shape nor is he particularly petite, you can use it as a ROUGH estimate. but BMI only considers weight and height (w/h^2 specifically). if you really want to get an adequate picture of body composition you need to look at things like anthropometric skinfolds (a variety of them), bioelectric impedance analysis and underwater weighing (or air displacement plethysmography) which measure body fat, basal metabolic rate, bone density, and the list goes on. i used to work for the NY Obesity Research center so i can go on and on about this stuff!

and if you haven't seen supersize me, SEE IT.

 

[Law2Doc]

the BMI does not account for muscle, so, of course, athletes will have a higher BMI as muscle weighs more than fat.

Yes, the BMI assumes a relatively high fat percentage - it's probably a good tool for the relatively sedentary rest of the population but not for gym rats. If you regularly hit the gym for weights you will likely score as overweight. I recall one of the fitness publications recently bashed the BMI by showing pics of very ripped, washboard abs type people who according to the BMI score were obese.

 

[45408]

people will call me thin, but my BMI isn't far from overweight either. It's just a rough guideline.

 

[LizzyM]

CDC: Modestly overweight have lower risk of death ... than previously reported. They still have a higher risk of death than those of "normal" weight.

BMI when applied to the population identifies groups at increased risk of death when compared to other groups. The cut point for when risk begins to increase is 25. The slope of the curve changes and becomes more steep at 30. Thus the definition of "overweight" is 25-29.9 and obese is 30.0 and higher.

Sure, there are very muscular athletes that are categorized as "overweight". They are a very small segment of the population and we have little information on their risk of death when compared with persons with BMI < 25.