Men and women, particularly those categorized as obese, have
grown increasingly likely over the years to underestimate their
true weight, according to a recent study. In a paper published
Wednesday in the journal PLoS ONE, researchers at University
College of Cork examined height and weight data for Irish adults
over a nine-year period. In three separate health surveys, men
and women were asked to estimate their height and weight, and
those figures were used to calculate body mass index, or BMI.
Afterward, they were weighed and measured for accuracy. What
researchers discovered was that while people routinely misjudged
their true dimensions, their weight estimates had grown
increasingly inaccurate over time. Their height estimates
however remained more or less constant. Researchers found that
the sensitivity, or rate of accuracy, of obese people's self-
estimation of BMI in a 1998 survey was 80%. By 2002, it had
fallen to 64% and by 2009 it had dropped to 53%. » The latest on
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