Learn from the mistakes of others

Normal and average are not based on 50s measurements - at least in professional circles in Australia. Give our researchers some credit!

BMI is just a number derived from magically combining your height and weight, so it's essentially no different. I can't recall the exact formula off the top of my head. :-)

Professionals also use waist measurement ratios (apparently more important than height/weight in determining health risk) and body fat percentages (though of course, these are harder to measure).

Certainly there are plenty of interest groups involved in pushing different healthcare agendas - arguably, obesity isn't the most important health issue facing our society. But some combination of poor diet, obesity and unfitness is pretty unarguably becoming a public health nightmare.