“Being overweight is now believed to help protect patients with an increasingly long list of medical problems, including pneumonia, burns, stroke, cancer, hypertension, and heart disease. Researchers who have tried to show that the paradox is based on faulty data or reasoning have largely come up short. And while scientists do not yet agree on what the paradox means for health, most accept the evidence behind it.”
“If the paradox is real, and extra weight can bring benefits, what constitutes a healthy life? Is there any point trying to diet to lose weight, for example?
Researchers are divided on the public health implications of the paradox, but the approach that makes most sense to me is Health at Every Size. This is based on the idea that healthy behaviors, including nutrition and physical activity, matter more than weight.”
Makes sense to me, I guess. Avoid being extremely obese but a little weight is fine IF combined with healthy eating and regular exercise. At my last checkup, my doctor was more focused on wanting me to exercise regularly than worrying about weight loss.
@doschicos - didn’t read the article but does body fat/muscle ratio factor in?
I’m 30-40 lbs overweight but feel better if I’m strength training, yet hovering not much lower than I weigh now. My clothes fit better, I have more energy, etc.
The higher my body fat goes - the crappier I feel.
There was something in the New York Times several years ago, comparing health between a man today and his ancestors who fought in the Union army. A strange comparison, but being overweight today is much healthier than anything back then!
They said something about humans changing, in a relatively short period of time, to being larger and far more robust. Robust is a good word for it - not fashionably thin, but healthier anyway.
There is probably truth to this. I’ve seen far too many skinny older women and men who are weak, have not an ounce of muscle, have bone degeneration and a host of physical issues. Muscle adds to weight. Strong, big bones add to weight. Personally I think as long as you don’t slip into the obese category on BMI charts you could be a very healthy person in the overweight zone and you could be a very weak and potentially ill person in the low end of Normal. Being thin does not and never equated to being “healthy and strong.” Being Fit is not the same as being thin.
My grandparents lived well into their 90’s. They were not obese but they weren’t skinny either. I think the fact that they walked 3 miles a day was what matter the most. They were both hit by a car when they were in their 90’s. My grandmother was thrown a number of feet. While they both ended up in the hospital with bruises and she had a head injury neither had ANY broken bones. I think the walking all those years made their bones strong.
@doschicos, I’d agree with that, except that I think my obese father-in-law might have osteoporosis. I don’t know why his weight has not protected him.
I wondered about including thin people, too, as some people drop weight when they are ill. The study attempts to correct for that, but enough?
A heavier person would have more reserves to survive a serious illness. I think of my skinny mom, frail and with osteoporosis. I don’t think she could live through a prolonged illness.
@Lizardly - Supposedly, the researchers have done studies to correct for the “thinner when sick” phenomenon, by cutting out people within a 2 year window of death.
How tragic @MichiganGeorgia about your grandparents getting hit by a car, especially at that age! I’m sure the walking helped. My doc focuses on exercise more than anything else.
@rosered55 - Also less common for men to be affected. Perhaps, in his case, its hereditary or medication might have come into play.
I see older thin women and I am afraid for them. OTOH I saw a woman today in the grocery store, dressed as if she had just come from an exercise class, with the little pot belly and wobbly upper arms that we all hate. She looked very healthy!
I’m thin and I have osteopenia or osteoporosis. That’s a negative. I also have very low blood pressure, which has mixed effects. However, I get quite a bit of exercise, walking my dog. So, maybe the thinness and the exercise cancel each other out, and me and my bones will be okay for awhile.
Now wait a minute. While being THIN can be a risk of osteoporosis, saying that being “heavier” prevents it is a STRETCH. There is a lot of room between THIN and OVERWEIGHT. Also “petite” is a higher risk for osteoporosis due to less bone to lose then those with larger frames - larger frame does not equal weight alone - it’s simply your body frame!
I am naturally thin but I’ve made an effort to put on weight in the last few years because I look better with a few extra pounds. 5-7 pounds extra make me a real difference for me, because I am short, too. It’s not and has never been easy for me to gain weight. If I didn’t eat carbs I’d be sickly thin.
I get lots of exercise too. I walk every day, play tennis once a week and do yoga.
I can see how osteoporosis and pneumonia could be related. So many old women with osteoporosis break a hip and are then immobilized and pneumonia sets in. I’ve seen it happen in several cases.
Since weight bearing exercise stimulates bone growth, heavier people will naturally get more bone growth stimulation from walking around than lighter people, which is probably why they are at reduced risk of osteoporosis.
Of course, for the same weight (in the “normal”, “overweight”, or “obese” ranges), a high level of fitness, which comes with a higher percentage of muscle and bone versus fat, is likely healthier than having a high body fat percentage.
Perhaps the answer to the “paradox” is in plain sight. Remember the recent articles about “normal weight obesity” or “skinny fat” being associated with higher health risks typically associated with obesity?
Perhaps it is not surprising if you consider that a normal weight man with a large waist probably has little muscle and does not exercise much, if at all, while the BMI-overweight/obese man with a small waist is what one expects a muscular athlete to look like.
So if much of the BMI-normal-weight population has normal weight obesity, then it may not be surprising that they drag the BMI-normal-weight health indicators down.
Of course, the takeaway is not that a person with normal weight obesity should get fatter to move into the supposedly healthier BMI-overweight category. S/he should try to gain muscle weight (and ideally lose some of the belly fat), which requires exercise.