According to
the latest
Journal of the American Medical Association (11/07), "there
were more than 100,000 fewer deaths among the overweight in 2004
[...] than would have expected if those people had been of normal
weight." This follows research published two
years ago by federal researchers who found that "overweight" people have
a lower death rate than people who are normal weight, underweight or
"obese."
Even so, most "experts" refuse to pay
attention. Rather than be relieved that the so-called health hazard
called "obesity," may, in fact, not be such a health hazard, "experts"
basically said, so what, "being fat is still unhealthy." Taking a closer
look, we find that all of the experts who are quoted run weight loss
clinics,
but Reuters never mentions this. In some circles, this is called a
conflict of interest, but apparently it is not in the world of "obesity
is bad."
Harvard's own
Walter Willet stepped up to refute the JAMA article. This professor
of epidemiology and nutrition stated that "It's just rubbish. It's just
ludicrous to say there is no increased risk of mortality from being
overweight. . . . From a health standpoint, it's definitely undesirable
to be overweight."
It appears that one of the world's most cited
researcher in clinical medicine is not aware of his own research. His
own research found that for young and middle-aged men (less than 65
years old), those BMIs in the 25-27 range were not associated with
higher mortality rates, and that BMIs in the entire "overweight" and
"obese" range were not associated with higher mortality rates in older
men (in fact there was a trend for lower risk in the higher BMI groups).
What will it take to wake these people up?