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Chart showing height, weight, and ranges for "underweight," "normal," "overweight," and "obese."
Body Mass Index chart. (Image: Intl. Inst. of Tropical Agriculture)

National Institutes of Health ties their definition of "obesity" to the Body Mass Index.

1985

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Body Mass Index chart. (Image: Intl. Inst. of Tropical Agriculture)

The Body Mass Index (BMI) scale has been widely critiqued for its racial bias and inaccurate generalizations, as it presents a standardized scale that compares everyone to an idealized white body.