Why Asians are overweight/obese at lower BMIs
- Thread starter godisveryreal
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@godisveryreal I learned something new! Thank you.
godisveryreal
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justin_473
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@godisveryreal In the opposite extreme, people of African descent don't have an adjusted BMI, and like 80% of black women are considered obese despite many being medically healthy but carrying more muscle than average that ends up being assumed as fat
@justin_473 Very interesting
@godisveryreal Oh yeah, I dropped off early on that one before BMI became a discussion, or the OP's ethnic background.
If I recall correctly, while the range is lower in a lot of asian ethnic groups, the bmi range is also higher in other non white groups as well, but because it was a measurement popularized by insurance companies toward primarily white populations ... the white metric keeps getting used on default setting.
Granted, it's already sketch to use a population metric on individual people...but that's a different kettle of fish.
If I recall correctly, while the range is lower in a lot of asian ethnic groups, the bmi range is also higher in other non white groups as well, but because it was a measurement popularized by insurance companies toward primarily white populations ... the white metric keeps getting used on default setting.
Granted, it's already sketch to use a population metric on individual people...but that's a different kettle of fish.
@abastzar as I’m sure you know (but might helpful to others) the BMI scale is incredibly unreliable, and it was never originally meant to determine what was a “healthy weight” anyway.
it’s really only used because it’s one of the few tools doctors have. No one should ever be solely relying on BMI alone to determine anything. But I think a lot of people end up doing so just cause it’s more than easy to just look at a chart with pre determined cutoffs.
it’s really only used because it’s one of the few tools doctors have. No one should ever be solely relying on BMI alone to determine anything. But I think a lot of people end up doing so just cause it’s more than easy to just look at a chart with pre determined cutoffs.
@jmh1030 It was quite the topic in my anthropology classes back in grad school. I don't lean too heavy on my memory though because I'm 10 years out and who knows how much things have shifted since then.
One of the commenters posted a link to Maintenance Phase podcast and that episode actually had most of what was covered back in school.
One of the commenters posted a link to Maintenance Phase podcast and that episode actually had most of what was covered back in school.
@godisveryreal
True.
But lots of highly educated people like doctors don't develop great social skills, etc. In fact, I know when I was in school decades ago, the patient bedside manner was so bad that the medical school decided to replace the lower leg in anatomy class (6 weeks!) with training on it.; arms and legs have lots of similarities so it was combined.
In regards to the stricter BMI recommendations, East Asians and South Asians commonly have abdominal obesity around their trunk which is the most dangerous of all.
True.
But lots of highly educated people like doctors don't develop great social skills, etc. In fact, I know when I was in school decades ago, the patient bedside manner was so bad that the medical school decided to replace the lower leg in anatomy class (6 weeks!) with training on it.; arms and legs have lots of similarities so it was combined.
In regards to the stricter BMI recommendations, East Asians and South Asians commonly have abdominal obesity around their trunk which is the most dangerous of all.
@godisveryreal It’s a serious issue if the WHO & the medical establishment ignore the genetics of type 2 diabetes & mistaken attribute it to lifestyle factors for only one race.
manofgod25
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@godisveryreal Damn I’m Asian and didn’t even know this 
kinda motivates me more to lose weight since my weight is worse by eastern standards than western standards of BMI
kinda motivates me more to lose weight since my weight is worse by eastern standards than western standards of BMIgodisveryreal
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@manofgod25 It’s definitely not talked about enough.
You got this!
You got this!
but_first_coffee
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@godisveryreal That’s interesting and hopefully can let more people know if they are at an increased risk if they have certain genes or not. I have a chinese American friend who is much bigger boned than her sisters(she takes after her American parent) and she looks great in the standard normal bmi range. Hopefully she didn’t get the genetic susceptibility to diabetes.
@godisveryreal Is there a lower lower bound of BMI for Asians then ?
auntneesie
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@godisveryreal I mean, the BMI is a pretty iffy way to measure health anyway.
@auntneesie I said the same thing in that original thread and got downvoted
EDIT: just like we’re both being downvoted here.
EDIT: just like we’re both being downvoted here.
auntneesie
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@wicentral I think it's due to most people not knowing the history of it. For those who are curious...
1) BMI was invented by Lambert Adolphe Jacques Quetelet who was a statistician, sociologist, astronomer and mathematician - not a doctor or a healthcare professional in any capacity.
2) Said inventor deliberately said it was not meant to be a tool to measure individual health. It was designed to examine large populations for patterns of death.
3) Insurance companies are the reason it was adopted in mass. Draw your own conclusions from that.
I mean those 3 reasons, among many others, seem like pretty big red flags to me.
PBS source.
NPR source.
Medium source that does a great job hitting on all the pain points.
1) BMI was invented by Lambert Adolphe Jacques Quetelet who was a statistician, sociologist, astronomer and mathematician - not a doctor or a healthcare professional in any capacity.
2) Said inventor deliberately said it was not meant to be a tool to measure individual health. It was designed to examine large populations for patterns of death.
3) Insurance companies are the reason it was adopted in mass. Draw your own conclusions from that.
I mean those 3 reasons, among many others, seem like pretty big red flags to me.
PBS source.
NPR source.
Medium source that does a great job hitting on all the pain points.
@godisveryreal BMI is outdated and inaccurate and shouldn't be used in medical and fitness settings, period. It's attached to structural racism and is based off of the white male body (which everyone seems aware of, but oddly still uses it). You can learn all about it on my favorite anti-fatphobia diet-debunking podcast "Maintenance Phase". It's literally a life changing podcast. Check out relative fat mass index (RFM) instead for a potentially more accurate reading.
Also, big YIKES @ the new American Academy of Pediatrics clinical guidelines for children. Awful. Great article you linked calling out all the fat-phobic rhetoric. Spot on.
Also, big YIKES @ the new American Academy of Pediatrics clinical guidelines for children. Awful. Great article you linked calling out all the fat-phobic rhetoric. Spot on.
@seraph159 You’re doing the same thing as a white woman as wm do. Telling woc what they shouldn’t and should do regarding their health. The mindset isn’t that far off. Thinking you can speak on the health of WOC and doctors of colour. Im not going to listen to a podcast of ww that know nothing about 1/2 of my culture. This is poisonous.
You’re basically trying to tell woc to not worry about their health because it’s racist to calculate what’s healthy and what’s not. Are you also going to address how western beauty standards are also based on ww and that’s it’s racist as well? I think the fuck not because it will knock you off your pedestal.
Are you going to address the fact that many African slaves with no anaesthesia, were butchered, were used to study gynaecology for the benefit of ww? What benefits white males also benefits you. You are also apart of what white men have done, which was also for your benefit. Y’all are still the gatekeepers to alot on going racist indoctrinations.
Don’t care downvote me.
You’re basically trying to tell woc to not worry about their health because it’s racist to calculate what’s healthy and what’s not. Are you also going to address how western beauty standards are also based on ww and that’s it’s racist as well? I think the fuck not because it will knock you off your pedestal.
Are you going to address the fact that many African slaves with no anaesthesia, were butchered, were used to study gynaecology for the benefit of ww? What benefits white males also benefits you. You are also apart of what white men have done, which was also for your benefit. Y’all are still the gatekeepers to alot on going racist indoctrinations.
Don’t care downvote me.
ninjatastic
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@seraph159 1) BMI is imperfect but a good quick indicator. You're saying it's based off the white male body when this entire parent thread is about adjustments that have been made to adjust for a different ethnicity.
2) RFM is fine but it's just waist to height. Elsewhere in this thread you say waist size isn't that important for health. So which is it?
You don't seem to be thinking this through, just repeating things you've heard that sound convincing.
2) RFM is fine but it's just waist to height. Elsewhere in this thread you say waist size isn't that important for health. So which is it?
You don't seem to be thinking this through, just repeating things you've heard that sound convincing.