From Your Health Journal…..”A very interesting article today from the Toledo Blade called, Obesity Report Isn’t License To Stay Overweight. The article starts by stating the increasing awareness of obesity as a huge threat to America’s health, “size acceptance” advocates have downplayed the risks of excess weight and portrayed negative attitudes toward it as simple bigotry. This comes after reports that being slightly overweight may actually be healthier than being a ‘normal’ weight. The article goes on by saying this can be dangerous to many, as some individuals may see this as a green light to lead an ‘un-healthier’ lifestyle, so take caution. The article concluded with, “We can debate the best approach to combating obesity and the role of personal responsibility vs. societal factors such as advertising. We can also point out the dangers of the thinness cult, particularly for women, that labels even normal-weight individuals as chunky. But denying the very real dangers of being obese helps no one, especially not the obese themselves.” Please take the time to read this interesting article (link provided below) from the Toledo Blade.”

From the article…..

‘We-told-you-so’ motto won’t produce results

Amid increasing awareness of obesity as a major threat to America’s health, “size acceptance” advocates have downplayed the risks of excess weight and portrayed negative attitudes toward it as simple bigotry.

Not surprisingly, a recent report that overweight people might have slightly lower mortality rates than those of clinically normal weight was met with a “we-told-you-so” from activists.

But attempts to use science to promote the joys of fat are both misguided and dangerously misleading.

The study, published earlier this month in the Journal of the American Medical Association, found that overweight people had a mortality rate 6 percent lower than normal-weight people of similar age and gender.

Marilyn Wann, author of a book called Fat!So? and a self-identified “weight diversity speaker,” touted this research as vindication in a CNN.com column: The mere fact it was reported as shocking news, she wrote, is “a measure of the intensity and pervasiveness of weight prejudice in our society and in our sciences.”

But does the new research support the claims of Wann and her fellow activists? The possible benefit found in the study was limited to people who were mildly overweight, with a body mass index (BMI) of 25 to 30. (This may be due to overweight people getting better medical screening, or being less severely affected by weight loss from an illness.) But the report made it very clear that obesity and especially severe obesity — BMI 35 and above — are associated with significantly higher mortality rates. Wann herself celebrates her “fat pride”; at 5 feet 4 with a weight of about 285 pounds, her BMI is 49.

Wann cites another analysis of health and weight data published in 2008 as proof that using BMI as a proxy for health can mislabel some overweight and obese people as unhealthy while missing the health problems of some people with normal weight. Yes, of course being overweight is not the only cause of poor health. But the very data Wann cites show that the correlation is indeed very strong.

To read the complete article…..Click here