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A recent study from the CDC indicates that being a little fat could be good for you.
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.
Based on the new calculation, excess weight would drop from the second leading cause of preventable death, after smoking, to seventh. It would fall behind car crashes and guns on the list of killers.
They define a BMI (Body Mass Index) of over 25 as overweight. You can calculate your BMI here.
Posted by Ted at April 19, 2005 8:24 PM