According to the American Medical Association, which is the largest organization of doctors in the US, the Body Mass Index (BMI) measurement has been used for ‘racist exclusion’.
Daily Mail explained, that this measurement, which is considered primary measurement for a healthy bodyweight, is measured by dividing a person's weight in kilograms by the square of height in meters.
According to the American Medical Association, BMI does not take into consideration relative body shape and how fat is stored.
The Daily Mail explained that, for example, Asian people who fall within a 'healthy' BMI range are still at a high risk of diabetes and that "black women tend to store fat around their hips and legs, whereas white women tend to store it around their midriff, which is more dangerous to their health - even though both may have a similar BMI".
The American Medical Association explained that "BMI cutoffs are based on the imagined ideal Caucasian and does not consider a person’s gender or ethnicity."
"Numerous comorbidities, lifestyle issues, gender, ethnicities, medically significant familial-determined mortality effectors, duration of time one spends in certain BMI categories and the expected accumulation of fat with aging are likely to significantly affect interpretation of BMI data, particularly in regard to morbidity and mortality rates", the association said, "Further, the use of BMI is problematic when used to diagnose and treat individuals with eating disorders because it does not capture the full range of abnormal eating disorders."
BMI was designed as a relative measure of body mass, taking into account not only weight but also height, Harvard Health Publishing's Dr. Robert Shmerling explained, making it a better marker than weight alone, even though it still fails to account for differences in the type and placement of body fat, including subcutaneous versus visceral fat.
"As a single measure, BMI is clearly not a perfect measure of health," writes Dr. Shmerling. "But it's still a useful starting point for important conditions that become more likely when a person is overweight or obese."
"It's a good idea to know your BMI. But it's also important to recognize its limitations."