Being Overweight is Healthy!

[JohnRich 4]

News:

A group of federal researchers reported that overweight people have a lower death rate than people who are normal weight, underweight or obese...

...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.

Source: New York Times

Eat up!

[Broke 0]

so does that mean if I become a fat fuck I'll live forever?

Divot your source for all things Hillbilly.
Anvil Brother 84
SCR 14192

[micduran 0]

Sad that this small portion of the article is all that a lot of people will read. There is WAY more to the story than what is in these three paragraphs.

Be patient with the faults of others; they have to be patient with yours.

[chaoskitty 0]

I could conduct a study and guarantee that people who don't excercise are 100% less likely to die of a heart attack while jogging.

I bet the NYT would print that.

[L.O. 0]

I'm on my way to the gym (Tuesday is a 15mi bike ride). I'll read it there.

Articles like this get a lot of play because almost everyone is over weight and it makes them feel better about themselves, isn't that nice.

HPDBs, I hate those guys.
AFB, charter member.

[Hausse 0]

I would make a wild guess and say McDonald's funded the study.

[lawrocket 3]

Quote

I could conduct a study and guarantee that people who don't excercise are 100% less likely to die of a heart attack while jogging.

I bet the NYT would print that.

The comment is not as farr off base as many may think, Kristi. there is a serious issue and problem of people dropping dead of heart failure while performing athletic activities. The case of the marathoner dying is just the most recent. People from Hank Gathers (who died on the court during a basketball game) to Jim Fixx (who died during his daily run) are pushing themselves beyond their limits of their bodies - killing themselves to be healthy.

There is little doubt that Jim Fixx's running caused him to live a longer life. But there is also little doubt that had he sought appropriate screening and treatment instead of running that day, he could have lived longer.

My wife is hotter than your wife.

[chaoskitty 0]

Right, I heard about the marathoner. Theres certainly cases of extremities on both sides.

I just meant that people who dont excercise, dont go jogging, and therefore wouldn't die that way.

[tigra 0]

Apparently, one of our local newpapers ran the story about being a little bit overwieght being OK while the competition ran a story about the obesity epidemic in America. Some moron on a local radio news show thought the 2 stories were completely contradictory. I guess she didn't understand the difference between being 20 pounds overweight and obese, which seems to be a pretty common problem in this country.

[wildfan75 1]

Is your 15 mile bike ride before or after you're done eating your daily lunch of 3 pizzas, a gallon of ice cream with chocolate syrup, a bag of potato chips, 3/4 of a pie and washing it down with a 2 liter of Mt. Dew or gallon of sugary fruit punch? And don't even try to tell me you don't eat that much.

"I can't understand why I'm not losing weight and getting toned. I go to the gym almost every week day"

[Hausse 0]

I wish there was that much food even in 5 mile range of the DZ...

[ladydyver 0]

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so does that mean if I become a fat fuck I'll live forever?

Not if you continue to paint your nuts gold

DPH # 2
"I am not sure what you are suppose to do with that, but I don't think it is suppose to flop around like that." ~Skootz~
I have a strong regard for the rules.......doc!

[BillyVance 34]

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so does that mean if I become a fat fuck I'll live forever?

Not if you continue to paint your nuts gold

Nah, I think he learned his lesson big time.

"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban

[simplyputsi 0]

Just one more study that will be reversed in the coming years.

eggs are bad for you, wait they are good, not they are bad. Ok they are good.

That article should include the definition of overweight.

Skymama's #2 stalker -

[tigra 0]

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Just one more study that will be reversed in the coming years.

eggs are bad for you, wait they are good, not they are bad. Ok they are good.

That article should include the definition of overweight.

I'm pretty sure the article in its entirety does include the definition of "overweight" and was referring to people who are about 20 pounds overweight or less. At least, the study the article is referring to makes that clarification.

[JohnRich 4]

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That article should include the definition of overweight.

It did, sort of:

“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...

Researchers generally divide weight into four categories — normal, underweight, overweight and obese — based on the body mass index, which is a measure of body fat based on height and weight. A woman who is 5 foot 4, for instance, would be considered at normal weight at 130, underweight at 107 pounds, overweight at 150 pounds and obese at 180.

Now we just gotta figure out how to measure our own body mass index...

[simplyputsi 0]

duh, those new fangled scales measure that stuff.

Those are totally accurate.

who ran this study anyway?? Who funded it, no for real who REALLY funded it?

Skymama's #2 stalker -

[virgin-burner 1]

wich can be found here

“Some may never live, but the crazy never die.”
-Hunter S. Thompson
"No. Try not. Do... or do not. There is no try."
-Yoda

[grannyinthesky 0]

Multiply your weight by 704.5 then divide by your height in inches squared.

"safety first... and What the hell.....
safety second, Too!!! " ~~jmy

POPS #10490

[billvon 2,396]

So is smoking! Selectively quoted from The Guardian:

Smoking

Talk to physicians and they'll tell you there are few things you can put in your mouth that are worse for you than a cigarette. But it's not all doom and gloom. Smokers are at least doing their bit to slow down the runaway obesity epidemic that is sweeping through the western world. "In many studies, you often find smokers are slimmer. We've certainly seen it in our studies," says Jodi Flaws at the University of Maryland school of medicine. "Some people think it's due to certain chemicals in cigarettes somehow making them burn more calories, but others believe it suppresses appetite. It may well be both."

Hmm, that's a problem - you might not be able to maintain a healthy level of obesity with sufficient smoking. But there are other upsides:

Scientists have also found evidence that smoking might, in some circumstances, help prevent the onset of various dementias. Many dementias go hand-in-hand with a loss of chemical receptors in the brain that just happen to be stimulated by nicotine. Smoking seems to bolster these receptors, and smokers have more of them. The theory is that smokers may then have more to lose before they start losing their minds. "It does seem that nicotine has a preventative effect . . " says Roger Bullock, a specialist in dementia and director of the Kingshill Research Centre in Swindon.

[kbordson 8]

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Quote

That article should include the definition of overweight.

It did, sort of:

“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...

Researchers generally divide weight into four categories — normal, underweight, overweight and obese — based on the body mass index, which is a measure of body fat based on height and weight. A woman who is 5 foot 4, for instance, would be considered at normal weight at 130, underweight at 107 pounds, overweight at 150 pounds and obese at 180.

Now we just gotta figure out how to measure our own body mass index...

Actually, it did. Exactly (not "sort of")
Under the methods section on page 2029 it states

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We calculated relative risk for each category of causes of death using Cox proportional hazard models with as as the time scale. Because the proportional hazards assumption was not met across the age, we divided the data into 3 age strata, 25 to younger than 60yrs, 60 to younger than 70 years, and 70 years and older and fit models separately within each age stratum. Because age is the time scale, these age strata refer to attained age, rather than age at baseline. For all analyses, we used BMI categories of 18.5 or less (underweight), 185. to less than 25 (normal weight, reference category), 25 to less than 30 (overweight), 30 to less than 35 (obesity grade 1) and 35 or greater (obesity grade 2 and 3). The model included BMI categories, sex, smoking status (never, former, current), race (white, black, other) and alcohol consumption categories in ounces per day (none, 0.35)

The results section of this study should be read a lot more carefully than what the media portrayed it to be.

Deaths due to CVD (cardiovascular disease) mortality:

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Obesity was significantly positively associated with excess mortality.

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Neither underweight nor overweight wa associated with significantly increased or reduced mortality from CHD (coronary heart disease) or from other forms of CVD.

Does NOT say underwt or overwt is "HEALTHY".... just that being obese is bad.

And if you get a chance to actually see the graphs - notice that the 95% Confidence interval crosses 1 on MANY of their graphs. So... not significant changes in relative risk. (But.. figure 3 on page 2034 is kinda neat in that it does show a level of protection in being overweight (BMI 25-30) for deaths by injury.... so either those in that group aren't up from the tv doing anything to get injured... or the extra padding helps buffer the trauma.

[grannyinthesky 0]

Re: .... so either those in that group aren't up from the tv doing anything to get injured... or the extra padding helps buffer the trauma.

Been there---done that----never going there again. It is hard to get seriously injured sitting in the recliner.

"safety first... and What the hell.....
safety second, Too!!! " ~~jmy

POPS #10490

[soaring_penguin 0]

Oh there is that much food at least, you just have to be fast and get it
Ever seen lions feed on a kill? Same approach applies to DZ feedings

So now I can stop losing weight and continue smoking, according to my calculations that way I'll be skydiving well into my 150s.

[JohnRich 4]

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Now we just gotta figure out how to measure our own body mass index...

which can be found here

Thanks for that reference.

Dang! I'm on the verge of being obese! I don't believe that for a minute. I'm just a big muther. Not fat.

I suppose the BMI of superbly fit pro wrestlers would rank them as obese too? According to that calculator, if you're 6'0" tall, and weigh 225 lbs, you're "obese". How come they don't account for the physical fitness aspect? That kind of weight can be distributed in several different ways, some of them good, and some of them bad. There's a difference between a body-builder, and a beer-belly.

This makes me skeptical about the use of BMI to determine obesity...

[virgin-burner 1]

you could always go with a body fat scale.. or however you call this thingies..

“Some may never live, but the crazy never die.”
-Hunter S. Thompson
"No. Try not. Do... or do not. There is no try."
-Yoda