Live Blog Patrick Basham and John Luik summarize recent research exposing obesity myths. The most recent example is from the Lancet, where researchers write that fat distribution (pear-shaped vs apple-shaped), BMI, and other measures of obesity don't help determine cardiovascular disease once you account for cholesterol, blood pressure, and history of diabetes. Before you go all the way and say that fat is the culprit, no matter where it is, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that people at “normal weight” and “underweight” have higher mortality rates than those who are “overweight.”