Should BMI play a factor in professional sports?

When I earned a college scholarship to throw shot put and discus, I weighed 199 pounds. I could leg press more than 600 pounds, squat nearly 450 pounds and throw a discus 140 feet on a good day. Despite my athletic ability, I was carrying 38 percent of my body weight as fat and I had a BMI of 34.2. My weight made me a beast in the ring, but off the sports field I was obese.

Should my BMI have been taken into consideration before a scholarship was offered? Should professional athletes be required to maintain a healthy BMI?

The Minnesota Vikings may be the first team to support athletes with a healthy BMI.

Johnson McKinnie came in too heavy and he was escorted right back out. The Minnesota Vikings do not take football lightly. When LT Johnson McKinnie reported to football practice weighing 65 pounds more than his contract allowed, the Vikings told him to go back home. The team leaders quickly pushed Charles Johnson into the LT position and teammates supported the change, but is this step toward healthier football players too little, too late?

For decades football players have pushed the weight boundaries. In 2006, more than 500 football players entered training camp weighing 300 pounds or more. That number was up from just a handful 20 years earlier. Experts have no idea what to expect in the next 20 years, unless more teams take a strong stance like the Minnesota Viking. Overweight football players in the National Football League (NFL) are 50-percent more likely to die before they reach their 50th birthday compared to NFL players within a normal weight range.

The bigger is better message has reached high school athletes. In November 2007, Desire Street Academy played in the semifinals of the Louisiana state football competition. The team, made up of high school students, hit the field with three linemen weighing in excess of 300 pounds. The remaining two linemen weighed in at a meager 270 pounds and 280 pounds, respectively. The players could not run, perform drills or compete on the level of other, fit teammates, but they were big -- and that is exactly what colleges are looking for in linemen.

The BMI scale is not designed for athletes. There is no doubt that BMI measurements do not take muscle weight versus fat weight into consideration, but that doesn't mean the numbers always lie. In 2003, the University of North Carolina published a study revealing that more than 50 percent of football players in the NFL were overweight/obese. Many of these athletes were just strong, so let's narrow down the numbers a bit.

A "small percentage" of the 2,168 players in the study measured a BMI of 40 or more. A player 6 foot 2 inches tall would have to weigh 310 pounds to have a BMI of 40. The players union did not take the numbers to heart, stating lack of proof there was an obesity problem in the National Football League.

Midget league football players look up to middle school players. Middle school players look up to high school players. High school athletes look up to college athletes, and college athletes rely on the National Football League players to set the standards for the future of football. It looks like the NFL may be more interested in pot stickers than flee flickers.

Do you think the NFL and other professional sports should use BMI to regulate athlete weight?

Summer Banks is a medical assistant and former collegiate shot put and discus thrower. She practices alternative medicine with a focus on food for healing.