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Wed 7 Nov, 2007 08:40 am
Interesting article.
I am considering using Manson's quote as part of my sig. Whaddaya think?
Quote:November 7, 2007
Causes of Death Are Linked to a Person's Weight
By GINA KOLATA
About two years ago, a group of federal researchers reported that overweight people have a lower death rate than people who are normal weight, underweight or obese. Now, investigating further, they found out which diseases are more likely to lead to death in each weight group.
Linking, for the first time, causes of death to specific weights, they report that overweight people have a lower death rate because they are much less likely to die from a grab bag of diseases that includes Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, infections and lung disease. And that lower risk is not counteracted by increased risks of dying from any other disease, including cancer, diabetes or heart disease.
As a consequence, the group from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Cancer Institute reports, there were more than 100,000 fewer deaths among the overweight in 2004, the most recent year for which data were available, than would have expected if those people had been of normal weight.
Their paper is published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
The researchers also confirmed that obese people and people whose weights are below normal have higher death rates than people of normal weight. But, when they asked why, they found that the reasons were different for the different weight categories.
Some who studied the relation between weight and health said the nation might want to reconsider what are ideal weights.
"If we use the criteria of mortality, then the term ?'overweight' is a misnomer," said Daniel McGee, professor of statistics at Florida State University.
"I believe the data," said Dr. Elizabeth Barrett-Connor, a professor of family and preventive medicine at the University of California, San Diego. A body mass index of 25 to 30, the so-called overweight range, "may be optimal," she said.
Others said there were plenty of reasons that being overweight was not desirable.
"Health extends far beyond mortality rates," said Dr. JoAnn Manson, chief of preventive medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.
full article at
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/07/health/07fat.html?_r=3&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1194438040-WQ8KzBIizxq%20luYBavokrw&pagewanted=print&oref=slogin
I think you should give up the Twinkies.
Further investigation will reveal that overweight people have exactly the same death rate as everyone else. 100%
Aw- come on. That's interesting.
The only question is whether the science is correct.
Is it research, federal or not, funded by fast food trade organisations for example.
Is the step from "overweight" to "obese" like that some claim is as easy as the step from dope to heroin?
Overweight is not the same as obese:
Quote:
CANCERS LINKED TO OBESITY
Womb
Oesophagus
Bowel
Kidney
Leukaemia
Breast
Multiple myeloma (bone marrow)
Pancreatic
Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma
Ovarian
BBC
I always new that being about the current target body mass index wasn't a terrible thing. I'm at the top of my BMI range and feeling like I need to slim down. But, as long as I don't keep gaining I'll be content about my weight. Now, if I could just get myself to start exercising.
contrex wrote:I think you should give up the Twinkies.
But not the snickerdoodles?
i choose a good looking corpse....
How come you never see elderly people who are obese?
I'm afraid I do, Green Witch, though they may not be as old as they look. Still, we all die.
roger wrote:I'm afraid I do, Green Witch, though they may not be as old as they look. Still, we all die.
I'm not challenging your observations Roger, but my MIL is 84 and she goes to a senior center where the average age is probably around 75. There are a few hundred members and none of them are obese. Some have spreads around the middle and sagging faces, but they are not obese in the true sense of the word. I do think being morbidly overweight ages a body faster than just being chubby. I have seen obese people in nursing homes, but it's because of their obesity and not an illness related to age. I'm sure there are statistics on this somewhere and my observations are not scientific fact, but I also spend a part of each year in Florida and rarely see an obese person much past 65. Go figure.
As you age you often lose muscle mass and that makes dragging an obese body around problematic. My grandmother lived to the age of 84 but rarely left her house as she was very large. Dr's appts or blood tests had to be coordinated with trips in an ambulance as she was too weak to leave the house any other way. Her days were spent lying down or sitting in a big armchair. Luckily she had her "programs" (radio) for company as she refused to move to a senior's complex. She had home help for light cleaning and of course my mom and uncle (and uncle's wife) were at her beck and call but it must have been a lonely existence in many ways as she wasn't a reader and eventually did not have the energy to even knit (once a great passion).
That's was tough, I'm sure, for your grandmother, Tai chi.
On this thread, it wasn't originally about obesity, but the zone called "overweight", re people with a bmi of 25 to 30.
Mine is now down to 25.2. Damn, just as I'm moving toward "normal", "overweight" is seemingly better.
To me, this is just one more study, but may have implications. It IS probably better to stay a steady if somewhat overweight weight and to be in good physical condition otherwise, than to yoyo diet ad infinitum. That's my two cents, no immediate data to back up zee opinion, as I'm busy chasing egg shampoo recipes.
Make your own osso- it's cheaper an easier.
Two eggs in a pint of rainwater.
Don't refrigerate though.
That's my point, making my own. There's even a thread on this.
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