Beware of health nannies who want to impart their 'knowledge' by hook or by crook. They just might be completely wrong.
The standard measure of obesity known as body mass index, or BMI, is badly flawed and a more accurate gauge should be developed, according to doctors in the United States. Writing in Friday’s Lancet medical journal, the researchers from the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Rochester, Minn., found that patients with a low BMI had a higher risk of death from heart disease than those with normal BMI. At the same time overweight patients had better survival rates and fewer heart problems than those with a normal BMI.
Never fear- if driven off the use of this one, the Tofu Taliban will soon be back with another one-size-fits-none universal measure, made up of equal parts half-baked research, socialism and tap water, and calculated to panic the greatest number for the least good.
Anyone who questions it will be denounced as an agent of global warming, a lurking heterosexual, a closet patriot, a smoker and a user of white sugar. Be warned.
Posted by: Martin Owens | Saturday, August 19, 2006 at 12:25 AM