Just in time for the new family of 12 food pyramids with an emphasis on activity, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has released a new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association
that finds that the current definition of “overweight” is actually the
optimal weight and prevents 86,000 deaths annually. The same study also
found obesity contributes to 112,000 deaths a year, one-fourth as high
as the highly publicized (and later revised) study from last year. Even
this risk was mostly concentrated among the heaviest 8 percent of
Americans, the extremely or morbidly obese. Being underweight (BMI
0-18.4) carried a higher risk of death than being obese (BMI 30-34.9)
and much higher than for the three categories of overweight and obese
combined.
What does this have to do with public policy? Public health and
government officials have spent a great deal of time and money trying
to attack obesity with claims that two-thirds of Americans are
overweight and 30% are obese and that these ratios will lead to higher
medical costs. This focus has placed more attention on low-carb and
other calorie-restricting diets, bariatric (gastric bypass) surgery,
and other radical steps that can do more harm than good. It is
one thing for individuals to purchase diet books, diet products, and
medical services for whatever reason they choose, including the desire
to be thin. It is altogether different for the government to suggest
that this spending will produce better health or reduce the risk of
death.
