Be Overweight and Live Longer

Deutches Artzblatt International ^ | 10/16/2009 | Elke Bartholomaeus

[Pining_4_TX]

Contrary to what was previously assumed, overweight is not increasing the overall death rate in the German population.

The Süddeutsche Zeitung published an advance notice of the report (http://www.sueddeutsche.de/gesundheit/140/489526/text/), which shows that overweight does not increase death rates, although obesity does increase them by 20%. As people grow older, obesity makes less and less difference.

Read the rest of the artilce here: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-10/dai-boa101609.php

[Pining_4_TX]

Perhaps we could call this "chunky person's revenge"! With all the hysteria concerning weight, one would think that fat people are dropping like flies. The truth is that life expectancy is increasing, even as average weights are also increasing.

What the health nannies don't say is that the #1 risk factor for most diseases is age, not weight. And there is nothing we can do about that.

What we need is more real science that is based on facts rather than on prejudice and what-everyone-knows-to-be-true. People may not like how they or others look with extra pounds, but that is a completely different issue from health.

Instead of spending so much time browbeating people about their weight, it would be better to focus on the kind of approach that is used by the folks who promote the Health at Every Size program. Beyond that, people ought to show respect, kindness, and courtesy to everyone, regardless of appearance.

[SIDENET]

[subterfuge]

At least I’ll be sitting pretty when the famine hits.

I took a “health survey” at work and scored an “80.” At 6 foot 3 it said I was obese at 230 lbs and that I should weigh between 156 and 196 lbs. Puh-leeze!!

[KarlInOhio]

What the health nannies don't say is that the #1 risk factor for most diseases is age, not weight. And there is nothing we can do about that.

Well, there's the Logan's Run/Death Panel method of age control.

As to the overweight issue, did they control for the person's health over time or just check their weight at death? Many people who get cancer lose a lot of weight because of the cancer and the treatment. Counting only the final weight at death can skew the statistics.

[Straight Vermonter]

There was an article posted on FR awhile back about a meta-study that showed people in the "overweight" group on a BMI chart had the best health over the long term. They had lower incidences of heart disease, strokes etc when compared to the "obese" and "healthy" cohorts. I think it is going to be a movement to adjust these charts.

[dfwgator]

As people grow older, obesity makes less and less difference.

Stands to reason, if obesity hasn't killed them by then, why would it kill them later, obviously their genes make them more able to survive being obese.

[Marie2]

Also among women anyway, being “overweight” is a great safeguard against osteoporosis. That’s a big killer in elderly women. They fall, they break a hip, they’re done.

I don’t think my hips will ever break :)

[Pining_4_TX]

Yes, of the studies I have seen, they did control for conditions or diseases that lead to weight loss.

Being active seems to be a key to health. Overweight individuals who are active are healthier and live longer than lean, sedentary persons.

Or is it that healthier people are naturally more active? ;-) The real problem is that people are making judgments based on what they want to be true, rather than what can be proven to be true. We would like to think we have control over our health, but everyone ages, becomes ill, and dies - no matter how much oat bran they eat.