Could being overweight benefit our health?

Medical News Today ^ | July 17, 2014 | Honor Whiteman

[Innovative]

Two new studies suggest that being overweight may actually protect against death from cardiovascular causes.

For the first study, led by Dr. Abhishek Sharma, a cardiology fellow at the State University of New York Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, NY, researchers conducted a meta-analysis of 36 studies that looked at the outcomes of patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) who underwent coronary revascularization procedures, including percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) and coronary artery bypass graft (CABG).

they found that patients with the lowest cardiovascular mortality risk were those who were overweight - a BMI of 25-30 kg/m2. In addition, patients who were obese (a BMI of 30-35 kg/m2) had a 27% lower risk of all-cause mortality than those with a normal BMI (20-25 kg/m2), while those who were severely obese (a BMI over 35 kg/m2) had a 22% lower risk of all-cause mortality.

The researchers found that overall, higher BMI was associated with lower mortality. Those with a higher lean body mass - the mass of the body minus fat - had a 29% lower risk of mortality. In addition, the team found that low body fat was only associated with lower mortality if no adjustment was made for lean body mass, which suggests that "body composition plays a critical role in the obesity paradox," according to Dr. Lavie.

[metmom]

The BMI is the biggest hoax. My Ideal weight based on my body type is 200 lbs. The BMI chart says I should weigh 185. If I dropped 15 lbs, I would look like a stick insect.

My son is very muscular and is big in the torso and shoulders and arms. Bumping into him is like running into a brick wall. He's very solid and does triathlons.

According to those ridiculous charts, he's borderline obese and I daresay, he's more fit than just about anyone else I know.

I also read that most NFL pro football players would be considered obese by those charts.

Something's wrong with that picture.

[metmom]

The best way to measure this is getting into water and they are able to measure the water displacement.

I still sink and I certainly weigh more than I did as a teen.

I guess I'm still OK then.

[goodnesswins]

I have been getting body mass measured in a Bod Pod at our gym this past year.
.much easier and cheaper and about as reliable as water displacement method.

[goodnesswins]

This just tells me medical profession is still a bunch of yokels if they used BMI as their measure

[TurboZamboni]

I’m trying to get back to my original weight...8 pounds, 6 ounces.