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The Campaign
to End Obesity Urges Caution in Interpreting
Results of New
Study
Many people awoke Wednesday
morning to news that being overweight may not be
bad for them and in
fact, may actually be good for them. This news was
spurred by a study in the Journal of the American
Medical Association, which investigated
correlations between Body Mass Index (BMI) and
cause of death for over 35,000 million American
adults. (Flegal KM, Graubard BI, Williamson DF,
and Gail MH, “Cause-Specific Excess Deaths
Associated with Underweight, Overweight, and
Obesity.”) The study concluded that while
overweight (BMI of 25-30) is not linked to an
increase risk of death from cardiovascular disease
or cancer, obesity (BMI of >30) is linked with
a greater risk of death from cardiovascular
disease and cancer. Both
overweight and obesity are linked to higher rates
of death from diabetes and kidney disease.
The study result that
garnered the most attention was that overweight
was, “associated with [statistically]
significantly decreased mortality from non-cancer,
non-CVD causes of death.” This
finding has been wrongly simplified to mean that
being overweight is good for people and actually
protects them from passing prematurely. The better
interpretation is that people who are overweight
appear to be less likely to die from things such
as infections or injuries than those who maintain
a healthy weight. However, they are just as likely
to die of cardiovascular disease and cancer – the
two leading causes of death in the
United
States – and more
likely to die of diabetes and renal disease.
This study and the press it
has generated calls to mind a number of points
that are critical to addressing the obesity
epidemic.
- Overweight
and obesity are not the same thing and the
words can not be used interchangeably.
Overweight is technically defined as a BMI of
25-30 and indicates that someone has moderate
levels of excess weight relative to their
height. Obesity is defined as a
BMI of >30
and is by definition a more severe medical
condition. If someone is 5’7” and 175 pounds,
she or he is overweight. If the same person is
200 pounds, she or he is obese. You can
check your own
BMI at the
National Heart Lung and Blood Institute’s
BMI
calculator:
http://www.nhlbisupport.com/bmi/
- This
is not new news.
The authors themselves note in many cases
throughout the report that this study reinforces
what many other smaller studies have indicated:
the risk of death from cardiovascular disease
and cancer increases with obesity but not with
overweight. The primary reason for separating
the diagnosis of overweight from the diagnosis
of obesity is that obesity is a far greater
health risk.
- Obesity –
not overweight - is growing at epidemic
rates. While the prevalence of overweight
has actually remained relatively stable over the
past 30 years, the rates of obesity have doubled
from 15% of the population suffering from
obesity according to 1976-1980 NHANES data to
33% of the population suffering from obesity
according to 2003-2004 NHANES data.
(http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/pubs/pubd/hestats/overweight/overwght_adult_03.htm)
- Most adults
continue to gain weight over time. A person
who is overweight as a young adult is at
increased risk of obesity as they age. As weight
increases so does risk of cardiovascular
disease, diabetes, and many types of cancer as
well as dozens of other diseases and conditions.
It is crucial that we reverse this trend toward
increasing weight, but reversing such a
persistent trend will take a comprehensive
strategy involving individuals, families,
communities, industry, government, and the
healthcare system.
- Death is
not the only factor to be considered when
looking at the consequences of obesity. For
example, the current issue of JAMA
also includes an article exploring the
relationship between obesity and disability.
(Alley
DE and Change
VW. “The Changing Relationship of Obesity and
disability, 1988-2004.”) The authors conclude
that the disparity in disability between people
with healthy weights and those with obesity have
actually increased over time. People
who are obese are more likely to have
impairments in performing daily tasks than those
with healthy weights. As the population
continues to age and obesity continues to
increase, this will place an increased burden on
individuals, families, and the medical system.
We must continue to consider many more factors
than just mortality risk to truly evaluate the
impact of this epidemic.
The Campaign urges
individuals and policy makers to use caution when
applying today’s headlines to their lives and
work. Although overweight does not appear to be
associated with increased risk of death from
cardiovascular disease or cancer, it is associated
with increased risk of death from diabetes and
kidney disease as well as an increased risk of
obesity. Obesity is associated with increased risk
of disability and death from not only
cardiovascular disease and cancer but from a host
of other diseases as
well.
……
The Campaign to End
Obesity (The Campaign) is a non-profit, non-partisan organization
dedicated to driving meaningful policy changes
that will reverse the obesity epidemic and
eliminate the burden of the disease on
individuals, organizations, and the nation as a
whole.
The Campaign was launched following the
2007 National Summit on Obesity Policy, where over
100 representatives from industry, public health,
and academia came together to identify a common
national policy agenda for fighting
America's obesity epidemic. Through
collaboration with a wide range of organizations,
engagement with policymakers, and an aggressive
public education effort, the Campaign is working
to achieve the national policy changes needed to
reverse the obesity
epidemic. | |
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