it’s not just magazine covers and other fictions that get it wrong. Even your high school health class had it wrong. Your doctor had it wrong, because her medical textbooks had it wrong, because the federal government had it wrong. Like “Big Oil” and “Big Tobacco,” “Big Bikini” has lobbied government agencies to make sure their products have the support of Congress. The body mass index (BMI) chart and its labels—underweight, overweight, obese, etc.—were created by a panel of nine individuals, seven of whom were “employed by weight-loss clinics and thus have an economic interest in encouraging
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