Ep. 245 - Is BMI Useless?

Oct 23, 2023

The podcast explores controversies surrounding the hosts' identities. They discuss the limitations of using BMI as a clinical metric and advocate for considering other factors. The speakers also delve into bodybuilding experiences, challenges of peaking for shows, and the discrepancies between lab mice and humans. They touch upon the importance of advocacy, social change, empathy in weight loss journeys, and the impact of weight loss drugs on appetite.

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Introduction

00:00 • 2min

The Journey of a Competitive Bodybuilder

01:58 • 15min

Using a Stick to Control the AC and Cold Stress in Research Labs

17:07 • 2min

The Discrepancies Between Lab Mice and Humans

18:54 • 21min

Advocacy, Social Change, and the Role of Science

40:00 • 6min

The Limitations of BMI as a Measure of Health

45:59 • 34min

Empathy and Understanding in Weight Loss

01:20:14 • 6min

It’s Eric-ception folks. Today, we put to bed two controversies. Not only the controversy as to whether or not Eric Trexler is vat-grown, as he seems to have at least SOME pop-culture knowledge, but also the controversy of whether or not Eric Trexler and Eric Helms are actually the same person. The last two episodes renewed this conspiracy theory due to the occurrence of the “new” host Eric Trexler being on the last two episodes, while Eric Helms conveniently could not be on at the same time. Well folks, this episode, both Erics are here, and boy do they deliver.

Dr. Trexler does a deep dive on the topic of BMI, which has come under substantial fire in recent times due to its shortcomings as a useful clinical metric. But should we abandon it completely? What can BMI tell us? What can’t it tell us? And, how should it be used, if at all, moving forward? And, where do we find the middle ground between advocacy and scientific accuracy? Tune in to find out!

00:00 Introduction to the holy trifecta and Eric’s return

21:20 The background of BMI and metabolically healthy obesity

https://massresearchreview.com/

Marcus 2023 Metabolically Healthy Obesity Is a Misnomer: Components of the Metabolic Syndrome Linearly Increase with BMI as a Function of Age and Gender https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37237531/

40:00 The value of this research from a sociological lens

46:43 Limitations and criticisms of BMI

Xu 2018 Association of Obesity With Mortality Over 24 Years of Weight History: Findings From the Framingham Heart Study https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30646366/

Iron Culture Ep. 146- What The Fitness Industry Gets Wrong About The Obesity Epidemic https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfAbKeiAuII

1:04:55 Goal orientation: changing health behaviours vs reducing BMI

Oscarsson 2020 A large-scale experiment on New Year's resolutions: Approach-oriented goals are more successful than avoidance-oriented goals https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33296385/

1:25:36 Closing out another monster episode

Omar @omarisuf https://www.instagram.com/omarisuf/ www.raskolapparel.com

Helms @helms3dmj https://www.instagram.com/helms3dmj/ https://3dmusclejourney.com/

Trexler @trexlerfitness https://www.instagram.com/trexlerfitness/ https://trexlerfitness.com/