A group of doctors are now urging public health officials around the world to replace the word “overweight” with “overfat.” These doctors claim that the focus on using body mass index (BMI), which measures the ratio between a person’s weight and height, is misleading at best. If these doctors have their way, we could all be using tape measurers far more often than standing on bathroom scales in the future.

Where the Overfat Term Comes From

The main scientists behind advocating the “overfat” term come from the University of Auckland in New Zealand. In their recent case, which was published in Frontiers in Public Health, the authors claim that “over/underfat” are better terms than “over/underweight” because they “describe the phenomena associated with inappropriate body compositions more accurately.” Overfat, in their definition of the term, simply refers to people who have an excess body fat that could impair good health.

And make no mistake about it, these authors don’t take this word change lightly. Indeed, one author, the retired primary-care physician Phil Maffetone, believes using the term “overfat” can help people avoid serious chronic illnesses and take better care of their health.

The reason “overfat” works, at least as far as these doctors are concerned, is because it focuses on looking directly at a person’s adipose tissue and lean muscle. BMIs, unfortunately, are often inaccurate and lead the general population astray. The way the medical establishment currently defines “obesity” is having a BMI reading greater than 29. But this reading becomes problematic when, for instance, a body builder is often considered obese due to his/her increased muscle mass.

Imprecision of BMI Could Be Dangerous

Of course, people in the medical field have been well aware of the imperfections of the BMI system. Despite this knowledge, the BMI is still the standard for measuring “good health” in both the clinic and at home.

It doesn’t help that we’re surrounded by a fitness-crazed media that promotes low BMI results as the golden standard. People fail to recognize that just losing weight is not the key to great health. When looking at a human body, it’s important to take into account not just how much weight is lost, but also the overall composition of muscle, water, and fat.

There are plenty of people in the USA today who have low BMIs, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t “overfat,” Maffetone argues. As Maffeton put it, the BMI “is not diagnostic of the body fatness or health of an individual.” Some researchers believe as many as 76 percent of people in the world could be classified as overfat right now.

American researchers looking at this data were shocked to see the 76 percent figure. One nutrition expert at Columbia University, Marie-Pierre St-Onge, told reporters she believes the American medical establishment really needs to look into this “overfat” issue as the years wear on. However, she also said we need to take cautious first steps in dismantling the “overweight” label. After all, we don’t have an established means of measuring or accessing a person’s “overfatness” just yet.

Change May Come in Replacing Overweight, But It Will Take Time

If “overfat” is really going to be the new “overweight,” there needs to be a huge shift in how public health officials and media outlets inform citizens about healthy body composition. For now, Maffetone says people can adequately get a good sense of their body fat by measuring their abdomen each month with a tape measurer.

The most dangerous form of obesity is called “central obesity,” which refers to an excess of adipose tissue in the abdomen area. And, while we’re all waiting for “overfat” to become the new normal, Maffetone encourages us all to start bringing up the term in daily conversation. Hopefully this will help us all have more intelligent and honest discussions about what truly constitutes “good health.”

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Chipotle has made a name for itself as a fast food restaurant that offers non-GMO and organic fare at prices everyday consumers can afford. Despite its commitment to using only the freshest ingredients in its dishes, it has not been able to escape the same troubles that other fast food restaurants like Taco Bell have experienced in the last few years. It plans to regain favor with its customers by offering to cater its menu to people with gluten allergies, diabetes, and other dietary challenges.

The Plan to Up Its Specialty Fare for Restricted Diets

Chipotle acknowledges the challenges that people on restricted diets can face when they want to go out to dinner. They may consume food that runs afoul of their diets or even compromise their health. To help people enjoy their outings to Chipotle, the eatery now makes available a self-help menu that clearly outlines foods that comply with certain diets like paleo, gluten-free, sugar-free, and others. People can use the menu to create a customized meal that they can enjoy safely without putting their health and dietary needs at risk.

It plans on accomplishing this goal without actually changing its menu or adding new fare to their current selection of dishes. Instead, the company categorizes each of its current selections into diet-specific choices. For example, its burrito bowl may be listed as a paleo or sugar-free safe choice but not one that is suitable for a gluten free diet. Customers can use the indicators to the side of each menu item to create a meal that fully complies with the way that they want or need to eat.

All total, the new Chipotle menu will accommodate 11 specific kinds of diets that people frequently utilize today to either safeguard or improve their health. Along with gluten or sugar-free, customers may be able to find vegan and vegetarian choices as well as menu items that are lactose and dairy free.

The Plan to Regain Customers

Chipotle’s newfound commitment to pleasing the widest variety of clientele is part of its plan to regain customers after the E. coli outbreak in 2015 and 2016. This outbreak saw hundreds of Chipotle diners become moderately to severely ill with food poisoning. Chipotle arguably has done everything in its power to avoid another widespread outbreak that it witnessed recently. It even ordered company-wide food prep retraining for all managers, supervisors, and staff. It also shut down stores for entire days to allow the staff to clean the eateries from top to bottom.

Its efforts to improve the way that it prepares and serves food has helped Chipotle prove to customers that it is truly sorry for the food poisoning outbreak and that it wants to earn back people’s business. It also has made strides by hosting free food promotions that allow customers to get a free burrito or other fares with qualifying menu purchases.

As such, customers continue to come back to Chipotle, albeit at a speed that is slower than the company ideally envisioned. Still, investment insiders expect the company’s stocks to continue to rebound, predicting a bright if not stable future for Chipotle as a whole.

Is Chipotle’s Rebound Decision Helping?

Chipotle has carved its own niche in the fast food market as a restaurant that caters to the organic, non-GMO preference crowd. It now offers a customized menu that lets followers of 11 different diets tailor meals that fit within their own dietary boundaries. This move is one of several that Chipotle has utilized to encourage customers to return after the devastating and costly nationwide Chipotle E. coli outbreak. While there are still people who argue the health benefits of a fast-food diet, Chipotle is showing that it cares about its customers by implementing the new menu features.

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The technician didn’t change the rubber part of the pipette between appointments, possibly mixing sperm samples.

Parents are very angry after they have learned about a mistake made by an infertility clinic at the University Medical Center in Utrecht, Netherlands. The practice has admitted that a problem may mean that a child that they bore was not fathered by the intended man. The University Medical Center recognizes that a technician at their facility was not following standard procedures and probably mixed some sperm samples. The clinic is offering free DNA testing to all of their patients.

What Happened with the Sperm Samples?

The infertility center connected to Utrecht University is a research center, so they use a variety of methods to treat infertility in couples. The accident happened during a procedure called intracytoplasmic sperm injection. During this procedure, a technician uses a pipette to place a single sperm in a woman’s egg.

A nursing supervisor noticed that the technician did not use a clean rubber stopper at the top of the pipette. Therefore, sperm material from someone else may have remained at the top of the pipette until it could potentially drop into the woman’s egg. The technician also did not use a filter in the pipette that would have stopped the sperm from dropping.

Paul Geurts, a spokesman for the hospital, says that the chance of a woman being injected with the wrong sperm is extremely small, but that it is definitely present. The hospital believes that the mistakes affecting 26 women occurred between April 2015 and November 2016. Of those women, 13 people had their sperm frozen, four are currently pregnant, and nine have already given birth.

The hospital will not say if the technician was dismissed or punished. They say that is a personnel manner which they do not discuss with the public.

How do the Parents Feel about Infertility Clinics Mistake?

The hospital contacted all the people involved offering free DNA testing. The hospital says that they are very sorry for the mistake. They also say that the number of procedures done at this Dutch infertility clinic has been drastically reduced.

Patients have mixed feelings about the problem. One patient who spoke with CNN said:

“I was worried at first, yes, because you don’t want to be [told] your baby is not your husband’s. But also happy that UMC is so open about this and not trying to keep this a secret. I can’t imagine how this is like for people that are involved.”

The hospital has not said if the DNA tests have revealed if they have identified any patients that got the wrong sperm.

Doctor Jasper Smeenk speaking on behalf of the Dutch Federation of Obstetricians and Gynecologists says that there are about 7,600 similar procedures done at 12 fertility clinics in the Netherlands each year.

He agrees with the observation of Paul Geurts that this is an extremely rare case quickly adding that the industry hopes to keep it that way. He says that intracytoplasmic sperm injection is safe as long as the proper procedures are put in place and strictly followed.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for Freya, a healthcare organization working with infertile couples, says that some couples may make the decision that they do not want to know.

Conclusion

A human mistake made at an infertility clinic at the University Medical Center in Utrecht, Netherlands, may have allowed women to be injected with the sperm from the wrong partner.

The clinic has apologized for the mistake that occurred starting in April 2015 and continued for 19 months. All people involved have been given the option of receiving complementary DNA testing. While some patients may be angry, industry officials stress that the procedure is safe as long as strict protocols are followed.

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