BMI has been used for 'racist exclusion,' the medical community claims
The American Medical Association is under fire for saying the body mass index scale (BMI) is racist.
Medical officials are now discouraging doctors from using BMI to solely determine if a patient is in a healthy weight bracket due to the scale’s supposed discrimination. The medical community labeled the scale as "imperfect" and "problematic," claiming it has been used for "racist exclusion," according to a previous Fox News report.
"This is the AMA pushing an agenda, not actually dealing with biology and science," Fox News contributor David Webb told "The Big Weekend Show." "BMI was never by itself an accurate measure, and I'm an example of that. I have muscle mass. I'm 200 lbs. and when you look at me, you wouldn't think that, at someone my height. So, there's a lot of factors that go into how they calculate BMI, and it's incorrect. It has to be combined with other things."
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Doctor Norbert Lischka (R) measures the waist-line of patient Phillip Gumpfer in the Buchinger-Wilhelmi Clinic in Ueberlingen, southern Germany, on March 24, 2014. ( CHRISTOF STACHE/AFP via Getty Images)
Fox News contributor Lisa Boothe speculated the move comes because there is "no money in health."
"All the Big Pharma, they want everyone to be sick, so they can make money off of you," she said. "So, if you're overweight, they want to cheer it on. ‘Oh, get on Ozempic. Get on all these different things. Make us money instead of going out, being healthy, eating healthy, exercising...' doing things where you're not going to be reliant on Big Pharma, so they can make money."
The American Medical Association's new policy says doctors will also consider genes, body composition, belly fat and waist circumference when determining if a patient is at a healthy weight.
Fox News’ Melissa Rudy contributed to this report.
