Читать книгу Nutrition For Dummies - Carol Ann Rinzler - Страница 58

Lambert Adolphe Jacques Quetelet (1795–1874) was a Belgian mathematician, astronomer, statistician, and sociologist who invented the concept of the homme moyen (middle man), the average Joe who stands at the center of any bell curve.

Quetelet's main concern was predicting criminal behavior. To this end, he hoped to develop statistical patterns based on a person’s deviation from average (read: normal) social behavior that could be used to predict his actions, including moral (good) and criminal (bad) behavior. Although this idea provoked many lively discussions among 19th-century social scientists, it never really worked as a crime-fighting tool. But it is extremely useful in estimating health risks.

(Figure adapted from Clinical Guidelines on the Identification, Evaluation, and Treatment of Overweight and Obesity in Adults: The Evidence Report.)

For a simpler solution, go to www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/educational/lose_wt/BMI/bmicalc.htm, fill in the numbers, and bingo! The Baylor College of Medicine has an even niftier calculator site that gives you BMI plus the daily calorie intake that keeps you where you are or what you need to lose a few pounds. Check it out at www.bcm.edu/cnrc-apps/caloriesneed.cfm/TheBaylorCollegeofMedicine%20Calorie%20Needs%20and%20BMI%20calculator.

Or you could just run your finger down the screen showing the National Institute of Health’s BMI chart for men and women from four feet ten inches to six feet four inches tall, weighing 91 to 443 pounds with “normal” being within a pound or two of the healthful weights proposed for younger people in the 1990 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. You can find the chart at https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/educational/lose_wt/BMI/bmi_tbl.pdf.