What BMI doesn't tell you about your health

The way we define obesity is flawed.

Read more about Body Mass Index's flaws on Vox.com: http://bit.ly/2nxeQ2U

The body mass index, better known as BMI, is a measure of obesity that has been in use for over 200 years. It was a formula created by Belgian mathematician Adolphe Quetelet. It takes your weight (sorry my fellow Americans, everyone else is on the metric system) in kilograms divides and divides it by height in meters squared. And from this you get a number that represent your total body mass relative to your height and weight. The ranges go from underweight to obese, and one decimal point can tip you in either direction. BMI has been used to study obesity in large populations, and for the most part it’s okay for those types of studies. However, when individual health is the topic at hand, using the body mass index can make judging a person’s health a little bit trickier.

See the state of obesity in your area:
https://stateofobesity.org/adult-obesity/

CDC’s BMI considerations for practitioners:
https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/downloads/bmiforpactitioners.pdf

And to check Marshawn Lynchs stats visit:
https://www.playerprofiler.com/nfl/marshawn-lynch/
http://www.nfl.com/player/marshawnlynch/2495663/combine

Subscribe to our channel! http://goo.gl/0bsAjO

Vox.com is a news website that helps you cut through the noise and understand what's really driving the events in the headlines. Check out http://www.vox.com.

Watch our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/IZONyE
Follow Vox on Facebook: http://goo.gl/U2g06o
Or Twitter: http://goo.gl/XFrZ5H