Weight of Evidence: It's Still Unhealthy to be Fat

[HuckleB]

Weight of Evidence: It's Still Unhealthy to be Fat

"It undoubtedly sounded like good news to many Americans: "Some Extra Heft May Be Helpful," blared a New York Times headline two weeks ago, reporting on a study from the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), a branch of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The report claimed that the current measurement for "overweight" is actually the healthiest level, while the "healthy weight" category is relatively unhealthy. Moreover the NCHS estimated that annual U.S. deaths from being overweight or obese are much lower than previously thought – 25,814 per year, as opposed to the CDC estimate of 365,000 deaths per year from "poor diet and physical inactivity," most of which are related to weight.

Smug commentators went wild: The "fatophobes," wrote John Tierney in a triumphant New York Times column, "are fighting on, disputing the new study and arguing that it still shows the fatal dangers of being seriously obese. But they have lost the scientific high ground." Meanwhile the nation's preeminent calorie pusher – the Center for Consumer Freedom, a front group for the food and beverage industry – practically gloated itself to death with an obese $600,000 newspaper advertising blitz.

But is it true that "Americans have been force-fed a steady diet of obesity myths" by the CDC and others, as the Center for Consumer Freedom claimed in its full-page ads? And will that spare tire around your waist actually help you get more mileage out of life? There's good reason to believe that the answer to both questions is no.

To determine fatness, the CDC uses a measure called Body Mass Index (BMI), a comparison of weight to height. According to the CDC, a BMI of 25 to 30 is "overweight" and unhealthy while a BMI above 30 is "obese" and extremely unhealthy. The new study, published by Katherine Flegal and colleagues in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), found that the 25-to-30 category was the healthiest, and that it isn't until the 35-plus BMI category that a serious risk of premature death kicks in. CDC Director Julie Gerberding has said that her agency will not adjust its own numbers to reflect the new findings, and it's easy to see why. The new study contradicts a slew of previous epidemiological studies, including the six different studies the CDC used to arrive at its estimates.

..."

http://www.fumento.com/fat/obesitymay2005.html

and...

https://ssl.tnr.com/p/docsub.mhtml?i=w050502&s=fumento050305



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Alas, this story is a perfect example of the piss-poor health coverage offered by the MSM. One study does not allow for the dismissal of all the evidence that came before it, yet one would think that everything we thought we knew had changed based on the coverage this story received.

[soleft]

1. It's unhealthy to be unhealthy

The focus should be on health - if you don't have an eating disorder, if you live a healthy life style, if you're active and your sugar, cholesteral, BP and other factors are healthy - on a wholistic level it's much better to not stress out about a "spare tire"

If you can't get out of bed because you're body can't support your weight, that's a different story.

And to characterize Tierney as smug only betrays a bias in the author of this article.

[HuckleB]

6. So it's always bias to point out bias?

Tierney messed up. He fell for the trap of throwing out all the research that came before in order to push the latest as the be all, end all. That's a terrible sort of bias. I'm sorry, but pointing that out is simply do one's job.

[ramapo]

2. Delusional thinking affects all sectors

Common sense tells us that being overweight is bad for your health. Studies are not needed. Excess weight stresses all body systems with the end result being a reduction in quality of life and lifespan. Some people dodge the bullet, just like the three-pack-a-day smoker who lives to be 90 and doesn't even have a cough.

Affected groups seek excuses and try to rationalize the problem away.

People are not meant to be overweight. We are animals. When was the last time you saw an overweight wild animal?

[bemildred]

3. I don't need "experts" to tell me this sort of thing.

[HuckleB]

4. ?

:shrug:

[bemildred]

5. A private obsession, don't worry about it.

I was merely pointing that these fellows are belaboring the obvious.
:hi: