Posts in Health & Wellness category.
Physicians developed the ketogenic approach in the 1920s to treat epilepsy in children. Russell Wilder at Mayo Clinic coined the term in 1921 after observing that fasting reduced seizures. The diet mimicked starvation effects by limiting carbohydrates, forcing the body to burn fat. Before modern medication,s it controlled seizures in many cases.
Adolphe Quetelet developed the BMI formula in the 1830s as a statistical tool for average men in populations. A Belgian astronomer and mathematician created it without medical intent. Ancel Keys renamed it Body Mass Index in 1972, promoting individual use. Originally called the Quetelet Index, it measured social physics rather than health.
A 75 kg rugby player steps on the scale next to a 75 kg sedentary office worker. Same weight, completely different bodies. One is 9 % fat and mostly muscle, the other 28 % fat and losing health fast. The scale can’t tell the difference - body-fat percentage can.
Two friends start eating 1800 kcal a day. Six months later one drops 12 kg, the other gains 3 kg. Same food, same label numbers. The difference? Their bodies burn calories at completely different speeds - often by 400-600 kcal a day. The only way to know yours is to calculate it properly.
Kidney function deteriorates insidiously for many years until symptoms become present. One blood test marker has achieved the gold standard for identifying this process in its early stages: estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR).