Your Health and the News

Hi,

There has been some talk lately - and these kinds of stories make the rounds every couple of years - that if you are overweight you actually reduce your risks of some heart issues.

Problem is that these stories only take one tiny statistic out of a thousand studies and make big "news" about it. 

Here is an example.  This study looked at cardio and metabolic health in three categories.  Normal weight, overweight and obese individuals. 

They found that 23.5 percent of normal weight adults did not have healthy measures of the assessed values.  These values were blood pressure, insulin resistance, HDL, CRP, triglycerides and fasting glucose levels. 

That means 1/4 of the normal weight population have health issues. 

In the obese group almost 70% of them had health issues. 

In the overweight group only 50% had this increased risk of health issues. 

My take on this is that as you gain weight your levels of risk go up from approximately 25% to 50% to 70%.

However, the news take on the same stats was that 30% of obese people have no health problems.  Here is a quote from one blog; "These studies once again prove that just because you are obese doesn't mean you are unhealthy."

Of course the study did not show that.  It did not measure all health issues for one thing. 

The news did not take into account the whole story.  The one showing the increase risk of these health issues as one gains weight. 

Of course that won't sell newspapers or earn a shot on the TV news.  But, 30% of obese people are healthy will earn a shot on the news. 

Are there some overweight people that are healthy?  Yes. 

Are there some obese people who are healthy?  The overwhelming majority of studies on all aspects of health say no. 

Are there some people that are normal weight who are not healthy?  Yes. 

So it is not just weight.  There are many other things you can do to yourself to harm or improve your health.

Could an overweight person who doesn't drink or smoke, who exercises consistently and eats pretty healthy be in better over all health than a normal weight person who doesn't exercise, doesn't eat healthy and smokes and drinks?  Yes, indeed. 

So when you see health "news" or "statistics" take them with a grain of salt.  Do they even make sense?  In most cases if you really look at the report you will see the flaws. 

Thanks,

Mike Val
http://www.valshealthsite.com/
Stefan N, et al. Arch Intern Med. 2008;168:1609-1616.