Tag Archives: BMI

Befuddling BMI

The Friday File: Researchers find that being overweight (BMI between 25 and 30) surprisingly lowers risk of death by 6%, and having a BMI between 30 and 35, by 5%! While no one knows why, health experts are spinning like bad economists. Maybe BMI is flawed or maybe by setting the normal category between 18.5 and 25 they included too many underweight persons. Whatever the reason, pass the cheeseburger!

Scale It!

The Friday File: Obesity rates (BMI above 29) in the US vary from a low of 21% in CO to a high of 34% in MS. The South has the highest prevalence of obesity (29.4%) followed by the Midwest (28.7%), Northeast (24.9%) and West (24.1%). Among men, obesity and education are, unfortunately, not related, but women with college degrees are less likely to be obese than less educated women.