Analysis | Why are Americans getting shorter?
wapo.st
When we started looking at which jobs had the tallest (and heaviest) workers, we noticed something odd: Americans are getting shorter.

TL;DR; Reagan changed policy and attitudes, and immigrants tend to be shorter

  • hydroptic@sopuli.xyzEnglish
    6·
    2 years ago

    What in the shit: 40.5% obesity in firefighters and police? Just… how? I wonder how they define obesity, exactly

      • hydroptic@sopuli.xyzEnglish
        1·
        2 years ago

        Yeah I guess that could explain some of that 41%, but some American cops really do seem pretty obese. Feels like firefighters likely aren’t a huge part of that 41%

        • No_Ones_Slick_Like_Gaston@lemmy.worldEnglish
          2·
          2 years ago

          Anyone who’s muscular without being Mr. Olympia is over that threshold. The problem here should be fitness and fast percentage and not weight as a measure proportional to your height.

          Is the indicator that’s wrong.

    • _Mantissa@lemmy.worldEnglish
      21·
      2 years ago

      Obvs I don’t know for sure but it seems like the only data they collected was self reported height and weight. They probably used the standard BMI calculation to get obesity which, among it’s many other problems, does not account for muscle mass. Not that I think every cop is a body builder but every body builder would be obese if that’s how you calculated it.