Melanin doesn't effect fat comp... does it?
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4968570/
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S000291652...
Because social matter
Different genetics lead to different health outcomes for the same body fat percentages - or the same BMI on a population level. Just as it's not a "social matter" that the prevalence of sickle cell is much higher in African Americans. It doesn't make sense to use health outcomes standardized against a BMI range for one population racial mix against individuals of a race not represented -- in at least two separate ways.
Hong Kong for instance sets the obesity cutoff at a BMI of 25. China and Singapore use 27.5 I believe. The WHO and various other organizations generally endorse lower cut-offs for people of Asian descent. [1]
That's not to say there aren't social aspects to obesity as well (obviously) but that's not what we're talking about right now, and parent dragging that in is just a distraction.
From [1] in the comment you replied:
> Access to medications and surgery should be improved, in part by updating US indications for therapies to reflect race‐specific obesity thresholds and through inclusion of Asian American people of all subtypes with lower BMI values in clinical trials.
If we're just relying on the professional's opinion then they don't really need the BMI, right. They can just look at you and go "huh, you're looking a little thicc today."
BMI is a good tool for population health, a bad tool for individual health, and if it just so happens to correlate to your thiccness then you probably already know that.
I agree with parent that body composition analysis via DEXA or air displacement plethysmography is a far better metric.
I have no doubt that a carpenter can bang a nail in with a screwdriver 90% of the time, that's why they're professionals after all, but when I see it, I can't help but think "there's gotta be a better way mate."
[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/17/sports/football/the-nfls-...