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Telegraph/Free Press: People labelled fat based on BMI scores could actually be healthy

March 8, 2016 — 

As the Telegraph reports:

People are being wrongly classified as fat based on their Body Mass Index (BMI), new research suggests….

The research, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, is based on an analysis of 50,000 men and women. Researchers used bone-density tests, which show the amount of fat an individual carries.

The academics found those with the lowest BMI had a higher risk of dying early than those with an average BMI, probably because of pre-existing illness or malnutrition.

Those with high body fat scores also had a high risk of dying early, no matter what their BMI.

Dr William Leslie, from the University of Manitoba in Canada, told the Daily Mail: “The simple messaging that we’re all too fat and should be thinner is based on BMI.

“It’s an oversimplification of a more complex story.”

Here’s the Winnipeg Free Press story on it.

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