Re: Obesity Danger May Have Been Overstated
- From: "outrider" <outrider@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: 19 Apr 2005 17:58:00 -0700
dog...@xxxxxxxxx wrote:
> Article:
>
> By CARLA K. JOHNSON, Associated Press Writer
>
> CHICAGO - Being overweight is nowhere near as big a killer as the
> government thought, ranking No. 7 instead of No. 2 among the nation's
> leading preventable causes of death, according to a startling new
> calculation from the CDC.
>
> Researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
reported
> that packing on too many pounds accounts for 25,814 deaths a year in
> the United States. As recently as January, the CDC came up with an
> estimate 14 times higher: 365,000 deaths.
>
>
> The new analysis found that obesity - being extremely overweight -
> is indisputably lethal. But like several recent smaller studies, it
> found that people who are modestly overweight actually have a lower
> risk of death than those of normal weight.
>
>
> Biostatistician Mary Grace Kovar, a consultant for the University of
> Chicago's National Opinion Research Center in Washington, said
"normal"
> may be set too low for today's population. Also, Americans classified
> as overweight are eating better, exercising more and managing their
> blood pressure better than they used to, she said.
>
>
> The study - an analysis of mortality rates and body-mass index, or
> BMI - was published in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical
> Association.
>
>
> Last year, a CDC study listed the leading causes of preventable death
> in order as tobacco; poor diet and inactivity, leading to excess
> weight; alcohol; germs; toxins and pollutants; car crashes; guns;
risky
> sexual behavior; and illicit drugs.
>
>
> Using the new estimate, excess weight would drop behind car crashes
and
> guns to seventh place - a ranking the CDC is unwilling to make
> official, underscoring the controversy inside the agency over how to
> calculate the health effects of obesity.
>
>
> Last year, the CDC issued a study that attributed 400,000 deaths a
year
> to mostly weight-related causes and said excess weight would soon
> overtake tobacco as the top U.S. killer. After scientists inside and
> outside the agency questioned the figure, the CDC admitted making a
> calculation error and lowered its estimate three months ago to
365,000.
>
>
>
> The new study attributes 111,909 deaths to obesity, but then
subtracts
> the benefits of being modestly overweight, and arrives at the 25,814
> figure.
>
>
> CDC Director Dr. Julie Gerberding said because of the uncertainty in
> calculating the health effects of being overweight, the CDC is not
> going to use the new figure of 25,814 in its public awareness
> campaigns. And it is not going to scale back its fight against
obesity.
>
>
>
> "There's absolutely no question that obesity is a major public health
> concern of this country," she said. Gerberding said the CDC will work
> to improve methods for calculating the consequences of obesity.
>
>
> CDC spokesman Tom Skinner said the agency will probably start using a
> range of estimates for obesity-linked deaths.
>
>
> Dr. JoAnn Manson, chief of preventive medicine at Brigham and Women's
> Hospital in Boston, said she is not convinced the new estimate is
> right.
>
>
> "I think it's likely there has been a weakening of the mortality
effect
> due to improved treatments for obesity," she said. "But I think this
> magnitude is surprising and requires corroboration."
>
>
> The analysis was led by Katherine Flegal, a senior research scientist
> with the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics. The study that
> had to be corrected was conducted by a different arm of the CDC, the
> Division of Adult and Community Health, and its authors included
> Gerberding.
>
>
> One major reason for the far lower number in this latest study is
that
> it used more recent data, researchers said.
>
>
> "This analysis is far more sophisticated," said Kovar, who was not
> involved in the new study. "They are very careful and are not
> overstating their case."
>
>
> A related study, also in Wednesday's JAMA, found that overweight
> Americans are healthier than ever, thanks to better maintenance of
> blood pressure and cholesterol levels. Diabetes is on the rise among
> people in all weight categories, however.
>
> Flegal said the two studies raise questions about what definitions to
> use for obesity and "where to draw the line." Under current
government
> standards, a BMI, or weight-to-height measurement, of 25 or higher is
> overweight; 30 and above is obese.
>
> In recent years, the government has spent millions of dollars
fighting
> obesity and publicizing the message that two out of three American
> adults are overweight or obese, and at higher risk for heart disease,
> arthritis and diabetes.
>
> Link to JAMA Vol. 293 No. 15, April 20, 2005 FULL STUDY W/CHARTS:
> http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/293/15/1861
"A related study, also in Wednesday's JAMA, found that overweight
Americans are healthier than ever, thanks to better maintenance of
blood pressure and cholesterol levels."
It's great people are maintaining blood pressure and cholesterol
levels. Are they doing this with meds instead of diet, exercise, and
lifestyle modifications? Then I don't think, in the long run, they are
healthier. In fact they run a huge risk of taking more meds, to treat
the side effects of the first meds. {All drugs have side effects}.
People might also be healthier than ever if some sanity entered the
picture on what exactly causes cardiovascular disease--it isn't high
cholesterol--what are realistic and reasonable levels of cholesterol
and blood pressure for health, not the stockholder's portfolio, and
acceptance of the fact that those reasonable levels can, except in VERY
rare circumstances, be achieved by diet and exercise.
It seems that the recent news story was right: Americans take more meds
than any other country. People have been convinced by the food porn
manufacturers that they can have their it both ways; their cake, and
health from a pill.
Zee
Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto #2 in c, Op. 18
http://www.ckua.com
.
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