Study Suggests Lower Death Rate for the Overweight

[Blithe Morning]

This meta-study looked at death rates in 100 studies and found that overweight people had less risk of dying than normal weight people.

There are several different reasons posited in the article. I think the most important take away though is that researchers are now beginning to accept that BMI is not the be-all end-all of health. If the other numbers such as cholesterol, blood sugar and blood pressure are good then the extra weight is not hurting you. Furthermore, there is the issue of where the extra weight is located. Belly fat is still considered dangerous.

The other thing that struck me was the historical (1895) woman profiled as a the picture of health. She was 5'7" and 171 lbs. She ate three meals every two days. No coffee, tea or candy but loved beefsteak. Oh, and she was a farm girl who would have studied mechanical engineering if she were a man but instead planned to till her father's farm after graduating from Cornell (which houses the land grant university in New York.)

[Minkymoo]

Ive heard of this phenomena, its called the obesity paradox - more info on google but I think the gist of it is that for some unexplainable reason obese people tend to have better outcomes than lean people following diagnosis with diabetes or heart attack (and some other conditions), despite the current thinking that suggests that it should be the other way round!

I think it just goes to show that we just dont yet know everything about the mechanisms behind obesity and the conditions that we believe it predisposes us to...

[oolala53]

I'm not surprised. I've read several books that attack the interpretations made of data that find so many problems associated with overweight/ obesity. But all I know is I didn't feel that good when I was consistently overeating. It's ironic to think I may have decreased my longevity. I'll take my chances.

The sources I've read say that the improvements often come from eating better quality food and being consistently moderately active. This will often result in people losing weight, but it isn't the pounds coming off that cause the improvements. It's the behaviors.

[Blithe Morning]

The research makes me think that what we classify as overweight really isn't.

[Minkymoo]

I agree that some people with a BMI of 18-19 look really thin, it definitely depends on individual body type/shape.
And when it comes down to it, there is always a 100% death rate, eventually...
Unfortunately I am an apple shaped, centrally obese person so I am still in the danger zone
Ive seen women who weigh a similar amount to me who look fantastic and not particularly overweight if their body fat is differently distributed to mine!

[Lady Crimson]

This is actually old news that has finally been recognized. Some researchers have been reporting this statistic for over a decade. One interpretation is that many thin or normal weight people are chronic dieters and that it is yoyo dieting that causes health problems in both thin and fat people.

The main problem with dietary studies on people is that you can't put us under laboratory conditions for 20 years in a double blind study. All human studies are therefore less reliable than rat studies.

[clarinetgal]

What I took out of it is it's more important to focus on behavior than achieving a certain number on the scale. I definitely want to keep working on my eating behavior, and I will trust that the weight will come off in time. If I end up weighing a few pounds more than my dream weight, then that's okay!

[Blithe Morning]

There was no mention in the reports on the study if they controlled for smoking or intermittent food insecurity or other factor that might leave one thin but at risk for premature death.

[~reneew]

I'm 5'7" and when I weighed 170 I didn't look overweight, honestly, I am my own worst critic. I am large boned. I felt great! Too bad I thought that I "should" weigh 150 because that's what the charts said. Maybe that should be my goal instead of 160. Hmmm...

[Over43]

I like studies like these. Someone always has a higher likelihood of dying. Drinkers die, smokers die, people who hand feed great whites die.

My favorite is: Smokers have a higher.mortality rate than non smokers. That is absolutely not true. I don' t smoke, but I suspect someday I' 'll move onto the next sphere, just like smokers.

So, what this study tells us is, many of us have some years left.

[Blithe Morning]

Being human has a mortality rate of 100%!

What the initial article failed to mention was the risk was premature mortality.