Et tu, Women's Health?

Sheesh. Now Women's Health Magazine has a BMI Calculator on the front page of their website. I don't know how long it's been there -- if it was there all along, I must have been blocking it out. Women's Health is generally a cool magazine -- usually they say pretty sensible stuff about health, nutrition, exercise, etc. and the writing is kind of snarky and full of pop culture references -- so it is especially disappointing that they are promoting the BMI crap. I sent them this email:

Do you guys seriously have a BMI Calculator on the front page of womenshealthmag.com? That has got to be the least sophisticated measure of someone's health that I have ever heard of. I expect more from Women's Health. It is especially dangerous for you guys to promote BMI, because a lot of your readers work out and lift weights, which means they will have extra muscle that will give them a higher BMI. If a woman like that went on your website and calculated her BMI and it told her she was "obese" when really she wasn't fat at all, you guys would be responsible for the damage to her health if she decided that she needed to go on a diet and lose weight as a result of the info on your site. I hope you will remove the BMI Calculator immediately to avoid harming your readers by giving them wrong information.

We'll see if they respond (or, better yet, just take down the BMI Calculator).