The writer is a science commentator
The post-Christmas period is often a time for weighing things up, whether taking stock at the end of the year or preparing for the one ahead. For others, it is simply a time for weighing: stepping on the bathroom scales while reflecting mournfully on the quantity of turkey dinners, mince pies and sherries consumed.
The seasonal phenomenon of diner’s remorse might well include a panicked estimate of body mass index, calculated by dividing weight in kilogrammes by height squared (height measured in metres). The reassuring news is that some of those with a BMI above the World Health Organisation’s “healthy” range might have less to worry about than previously thought. This year, the American Medical Association declared the index an “imperfect measure” of clinical health and “misleading about the effects of body fat mass on mortality rates”. Nor, the medics asserted, should BMI alone be used to deny insurance reimbursement.