Obesity position paperback to healthread Why do so many studies show obesity as a risk? |
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Although obesity MAY be an independent risk factor
for disease, it has not, to DATE, been strongly linked as such.
What HAS been strongly linked in several clinical
studies are lifestyle factors such as poor food choices and not
exercising. Since people in changing
lifestyle factors sometimes can maintain a slightly lower weight, this may
be confusing some that it is the weight loss which caused the improvement
in health. Also since an unhealthy lifestyle may CAUSE obesity in some
individuals, it has been confused that the obesity is the cause of illness
when in fact the obesity may be a symptom of an unhealthy lifestyle in
some people.
Moreover, it is suspected by various scientists
(even the CDC which greatly reduced its estimate of obesity related deaths
per year from 360,000 to 26,000) that the so called "dangers of obesity"
have been WAY OVERESTIMATED. And likely the constant barrage of anti
obesity articles we find in the news is somewhat driven by the fact that
the revenue of the diet industry in the United States is at 40 BILLION
DOLLARS A YEAR.
As it was shown in the HAES study at SC that risk
factors can be reduced without losing weight if the lifestyle is changed,
And that the Cooper Institute Studies of 20,000 men and 9500 women suggested that the difference in CVD risk between obese and normal weight people who exercise is INSIGNIFICANT,
And that lifestyle factors seem the strong link to
disease as in the McGinnis-Foege study which attributed "poor food choices
and sedentary lifestyle" as a factor in 300,000 deaths a year,
And that the dangers of yo yo dieting (or weight
cycling) are well documented as well as the inability of 95 percent of the
public to lose weight and keep it off,
And that the powerful biochemical system which
defends the highest weight has been well documented by Dr Rudy Leibel who
also made the comment that although losing some weight is beneficial,
there is, at present, NO SATISFACTORY MEANS of keeping weight down FOR
MOST PEOPLE,
And that the dangers of chronic calorie restriction
have also been documented as in the studies of the Food Institute of the
UK whose studies suggest PERMANENT BRAIN DAMAGE in chronic calorie
restrictors...
And as in some studies which show dieting to be a
risky behavior which can raise the risk of CVD 40 percent or more in
people over 50...
And as a study published in the June 2002 "Obesity Research" journal, followed a group of 9,925 women an average age of 43 years for 11.4 years found that having a moderate to high level of cardio-respiratory fitness (i.e. from exercise) resulted in a 43 to 52 percent reduced risk of death in all women regardless of BMI.
As in all of the above, it is suggested that the
emphasis be on changing the lifestyle factors which ARE strongly linked to
disease rather focusing on losing weight especially as when the focus is
on losing weight, unhealthy practices are sometimes used to achieve a
certain weight goal.
References:
Campos, Paul: THE OBESITY MYTH, (NY, 2003) or
THE DIET MYTH (NY,2005)
Fraser, L., Losing It: America's Obsession with Weight and the Industry that Feeds on it, 1997, Dutton (New York) Gaesser, Glenn, PhD:Big Fat Lies, Fawcett (NY, 1996, CA, 2002) Colles, Lisa: Fat, Exploding the Myths, Carlton (London, 1998) Pool, Robert: FAT - exploring the obesity epidemic (NY, 2001)
Websites:
http://www.cswd.org/
Council on size and fitness
http://videocast.nih.gov/ram/ccgr011404.ram (speech detailing powerful biochemical system fighting weight loss retention by Dr Rudy Leibel)
(quote from article: "> Moreover, the all-cause
mortality rate of fit, overweight men wasn't significantly different from
that of the fit, lean men. Their heretical conclusion: If you're fit,
being overweight doesn't increase mortality risk. <")
Other cites:
HAES (Health at Every Size Study of USC)
Pat Bailey,
pjbailey@ucdavis.edu 530-752-9843 University of California - Davis http://www.ucdavis.edu
McGinnis-Foege Study:
JAMA 270 - Nov 10, 1993 pp 2207-2212
Complaint of these two researchers that their
results about disease being linked to poor food choices and sedentary
lifestyle, had been repeated MIS quoted by the press and peer reviewed
journals as "obesity" being the strong link:
NEJ 338, Ap 16, 1998 p. 1157
Additional:
private correspondance with:
Dr Steven Blair, Cooper Institute
Dr Glenn Gaesser, author
Dr Paul Ernsberger, Case Western Medical school
> Lee CD, Blair SN, Jackson AS. Cardiorespiratory fitness, body
composition, (relative risk factor differential between normal weight men and fat men who exercised was only 0.07 i.e. insignificant) |