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Latifah's comments about her BMI and the scrutiny she faced have prompted a conversation about the use of BMI to determine health, especially in women of color.

BMI is calculated using a person's height and weight to sort people into categories like underweight or obese. But experts say it does not distinguish between excess fat, muscle or bone mass. That’s why health providers only use it as one of many tolls to help determine a person’s health.

Maya Feller, a New York-based registered dietitian, said BMI does not take body composition into account, which can impact women of color.

\"For women of color, we tend to have more muscle mass and also be in bigger bodies,\" said Feller. \"So the BMI will falsely say that we are in the overweight or obese category and then we get flagged, but we may be healthy metabolically.\"

In another example, BMI may \"overestimate body fat in athletes and others who have a muscular build,\" according to the NIH.

Feller recommends that when it comes to health, a variety of factors beyond weight should be looked at by doctors and other health professionals.

\"How's your blood pressure? How's your blood sugar? How are your lipids? We need to change the conversation to really be talking about metabolic health,\" she said.

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