My take on health sites that depend on user information and hidden formulas to determine health statistics.
After all the health hunting I've done on the internet, I've come across many pages that promise to help you with this, that, and figure out exactly what you need based on your plug ins. I've been told what my body age is (as apposed to to my annual calendar age), what my exact workout plan should be, my daily calorie intake number down to a tee, and now my body mass index as well.While some of these sites are obviously more legit than others, it's an interesting thought to plug in minimal information about yourself to be chugged through a hidden system and provided with a figure. What do you believe? If you run with the information from every site, you're a fool of the system. What kind of calculator and system are these sites using? Is someone behind the site a legitimate health figure, or someone after your visit?
I've always tried to pass along sites that I believe are the most accurate and well handled. However I'm not a doctor and I only have what I've learned through blogging, nutrition and my web knowledge. I hope that as readers, you visit every site with a grain of salt and take nothing as a serious end all be all word.
That said, the latest site I've come across, offers a body mass index finder which uses your height and weight to determine your standings. This site actually shares their equation, plus backs their information up with a government health site. While their calculator cannot determine your fat to muscle ratio, it does warn at the bottom that they may incorrectly place you depending on your athletic build.
While I always think relying on a computer program to give you such important health figures is dangerous (a doctors visit is always best), keeping a general figure in mind is good to have in mind for those health conscious.
