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CrowdScience: Is the BMI fatphobic?

Discussion & Talk

Is the BMI fatphobic?

15/03/2024 GMT

BBC World Service - CrowdScience, Is the BMI fatphobic?

The BMI, or Body Mass Index, is used globally to flag health risks associated with weight. But is it actually useful, and why is there growing concern it could be bad for us?

Crowd Science listener Maik wants to know what the BMI is and what his BMI score says about his body. He trains dogs for a living and wonders if, like different breeds of dog, we simply have different body types?
 
Marnie Chesterton comes up with some answers, talking to doctors about how the BMI is used and misused in clinical practice, and looks at some alternative methods for measuring our body composition. She also sits down with philosopher Kate Manne to discuss the realities of living in a fat-phobic world. 
 
We hear from Tonga in the South Pacific, where high BMI scores have labelled the country highly obese. But this is not necessarily how Tongans see themselves. 
 
And Marnie finds out if the BMI will continue to be used across the world as an important health marker or whether it is destined for the scrap heap of medical history.  
 
Contributors:
Professor Kate Manne
Dr Francesco Rubino
Dr Naveed Sattar
Professor Brendon Noble
Technician Leah Siegel
Fononga Pulu 
Sela Latailakepa
 
Presenter: Marnie Chesterton
Producer: Richard Walker
Editor: Cathy Edwards
Production co-ordinator: Connor Morgans
Studio manager: Emma Harth

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