Editing Body mass index (section)

=== Racial and gender differences ===
Part of the statistical limitations of the BMI scale is the result of Quetelet's original sampling methods.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Strings |first=Sabrina |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/1256003500 |title=Fearing the black body : the racial origins of fat phobia |year=2019 |publisher=New York University Press |isbn=978-1-4798-9178-8 |oclc=1256003500}}</ref> As noted in his primary work, ''A Treatise on Man and the Development of His Faculties'', the data from which Quetelet derived his formula was taken mostly from Scottish Highland soldiers and French [[Gendarmerie]].<ref name=":0" /> The BMI was always designed as a metric for European men. For women, and people of non-European origin, the scale is often biased. As noted by sociologist Sabrina Strings, the BMI is largely inaccurate for black people especially, disproportionately labelling them as overweight even for healthy individuals.<ref name=":1" />{{Verify source|date=January 2025}} A 2012 study of BMI in an ethnically diverse population showed that "adult overweight and obesity were associated with an increased risk of mortality ... across the five racial/ethnic groups".<ref>{{cite journal | title = Body mass index and mortality in an ethnically diverse population: the Multiethnic Cohort Study | journal = The Health Board | date = 9 September 2023 | pmc = 4494097 | volume = 27 | issue = 7 | pages = 489–497 | doi = 10.1007/s10654-012-9695-5 | pmid = 22644110 | vauthors = Park SY, Wilkens LR, Murphy SP, Monroe KR, Henderson BE, Kolonel LN }}</ref>