Today's bit of good news
19 Apr 2005 05:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
firecatSeen elsewhere on my flist, passing it on.
Obesity Danger May Have Been Overstated (AP, by Carla K. Johnson). Excerpt:
I'm very surprised (pleasantly so) that they admitted it. Of course, "the CDC is not going to use the brand-new figure of 25,814 in its public awareness campaigns and is not going to scale back its fight against obesity." (Because, I believe, that would take money away from the diet industry, who are used to having it.) But it's something.
Obesity Danger May Have Been Overstated (AP, by Carla K. Johnson). Excerpt:
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.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated Tuesday that packing on too many pounds accounts for 25,814 deaths a year in the United States.
...
It would fall behind car crashes and guns on the list of killers.
I'm very surprised (pleasantly so) that they admitted it. Of course, "the CDC is not going to use the brand-new figure of 25,814 in its public awareness campaigns and is not going to scale back its fight against obesity." (Because, I believe, that would take money away from the diet industry, who are used to having it.) But it's something.
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no subject
Date: 20 Apr 2005 05:35 am (UTC)From their paper, relative risk of death:
BMI > 30: 111 909 excess deaths in 2000 (95% CI, 53 754 to 170 064)
BMI 25-30: –86 094 deaths in 2000 (95% CI, –161 223 to –10 966)
BMI > 25: 25 814 excess deaths in 2000 (95% CI, –86 284 to 137 913)
(basically achieved by addition of the two previous categories)
BMI < 18.5: 33 746 excess deaths in 2000 (95% CI, 15 726-51 766) (although most of these are people over 70 years old.)
In other words, they have actually shown that it is healthier to have a BMI in the 25-30 range than in the 18.5-25 range. They shouldn't be publicising a 25,814 excess death figure, they should be publicising something like a 25.814 ideal BMI. It'd make just as much sense.
no subject
Date: 20 Apr 2005 05:43 am (UTC)I lurrrrrrrrve the title in the context of their results:
Excess Deaths Associated With Underweight, Overweight, and Obesity
Anyone think they made up the title before they got their results?
no subject
Date: 20 Apr 2005 02:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 20 Apr 2005 03:44 pm (UTC)