The Judgment of Paris Forum - Extra weight is healthy (study)

6th November 2007

M. Lopez

Senior Member

Join Date: August 2005

Posts: 576

Extra weight is healthy (study)

The CNN article about this new study is a chaotic scramble of mixed messages, but within it are the study's sane findings: that having extra weight is not only not harmful, but is in fact an asset to good health.

Here are the pertinent points:

Quote:

Being 25 pounds overweight does not appear to raise your risk of dying from cancer or heart disease, says a new government study that seems to vindicate Grandma's claim that a few extra pounds won't kill you.

Released just a few weeks before the Thanksgiving holiday...the findings might comfort some who cannot seem to lose those last 15 pounds. And they hearten proponents of a theory that it is possible to be "fit and f**."

...having a little extra weight actually seemed to help people survive some illnesses -- results that baffled several leading health researchers.

"This is a very puzzling disconnect," said Dr. JoAnn Manson, chief of preventive medicine at Harvard's Brigham and Women's Hospital. "That is a conundrum."

It was the second study by the same government scientists who two years ago first suggested that deaths from being too f** were overstated...

Carrying about 25 extra pounds doesn't increase your risk of dying from cancer or heart disease.

"Over"weight people...are less likely to die from pneumonia, emphysema, injuries and various infections [than underweight individuals]...

...being merely "over"weight -- having a BMI between 25 and 30 -- did not increase the risk of dying from heart disease or any kind of cancer.

Also surprising was that "over"weight people were up to about 40 percent less likely than normal-weight people to die from several other causes including emphysema, pneumonia, injuries and various infections. The age group that seemed to benefit most from a little extra padding were people aged 25 to 59; older "over"weight people had reduced risks for these diseases, too.

Why extra f** ...might even help people survive some illnesses is unclear...

But University of South Carolina researcher Steven Blair, who says people can be f** and fit, is a believer. He called the report a careful and plausible analysis, and said Americans have been whipped into a "near hysteria" by hype over the U.S.'s ob***** epidemic...

People should...stop obsessing about carrying a few extra pounds or becoming supermodel thin, Blair said.

He says his hefty grandmother used to justify her extra padding, saying, '"That way I have protection in case I get sick.' Maybe there is something to that."

A little extra weight might provide "additional nutritional reserves" that could help people battle certain diseases, Flegal said.

It's hilarious how puzzled the researchers seem to be by these results. They've been duped by their own weight hysteria. Once again, the knowledge of the past (note the references to the beliefs of "grandma," all of which are now vindicated) trumps the misguided brainwashing of the modern day.

Article here:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/diet...t.and.death.ap/

Thread Tools	Search this Thread
Show Printable Version Email this Page	Search this Thread: Advanced Search
Display Modes
Switch to Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Threaded Mode