A New Approach to a Healthier Future

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Recommended: Causes and effects of obesity

There is a great deal of fear concerning obesity among Canadians from all walks of life. Despite efforts to curb obesity in Canada, the percent of overweight Canadians is currently on the rise. Such interventions include educating Canadians on healthier eating habits and the importance of regular exercise, but the most prevalent message of all is the promotion of weight loss. This message is particularly dangerous, especially among children and youths. I argue that the Canadian health care system must adopt weight management in the place of weight loss and end the standard use of body mass index (BMI) in order to successfully combat obesity.

Body mass has long been thought to influence health and well-being. Since excessive weight is believed to increase a person’s risk for disease the BMI tool is used to determine standard recommended weight. Medical, government and public health professionals promote the use of this tool, but fail to realize that BMI is an inadequate indicator of health. In the article about the relationship between body size and BMI, the authors comment that the “BMI ignores the major components of weight… and overestimates body fat in people who are very muscular or who have edema” (Shirly, Davis, & Carlson, 2007, p. 330). A person’s body is not composed of fat alone: bone, lean muscle tissue and fluids are other components. Thus, an athlete or body builder is likely to be classified as overweight because his or her body will have more muscle. BMI also fails to capture other complex factors that are specific to the individual. One important factor to note is the body’s weight set-point. The set-point theory suggests that weight is predetermined and is relatively stable for long periods. According to this ...

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... Health Canada: http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hcs-sss/alt_formats/pdf/pubs/cha-ics/2010-cha-ics-ar-ra-eng.pdf

House of Commons Canada. (2007). Healthy weight for healthy kids: Report of the standing committee on health, 1-72. Retrieved from the Canadian Council of Food and Nutrition: http://www.ccfn.ca/pdfs/healthyweightsforhealthykids.pdf

Shirly, S., Davis, L. L., & Carlson, B. W. (2007). The relationship between body mass index or body composition and survival in patients with heart failure. Journal of the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners, 20(6), 326–332. doi: 10.1111/j.1745-7599.2008.00328.x

Statistics Canada. (2009). Adult obesity prevalence in canada and the united states. Statistics Canada Catalogue no. 82-625-X. Ottawa. Version updated June 2011. Ottawa. Retrieved from Statistics Canada: http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/82-625-x/2011001/article/11411-eng.htm.

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