[Harmless Teddy Bear]

and yet the epidemics of chronic disease, such as heart disease and obesity, are just getting worse."

Obesity is not a disease. Heart disease is but it is not getting worse.

At this point I quit taking anything in this article seriously.

[ThePythonicCow]

Obesity is not a disease.

Marshall didn't assert that obesity was a disease. You're certainly welcome not to read him, but distorting something out of context like that is not a particularly good reason for doing so.

He is considering a wide range of chronic illnesses, some of which, like obesity, are not normally considered diseases at all. He's finding evidence, with detailed molecular genomic models, that many chronic illnesses are due to a breakdown in the body's conversion of Vitamin D. Cell Wall Deficient (CWD - missing cell wall) bacteria seem able to turn our immune system on its head, using it to attack our own tissues and protect themselves, The mechanisms used by the CWD bacteria including producing the bioactive 1,25 form of Vitamin D at excessively high rates.

See further for example Recovering from Chronic Disease - Sarcoidosis, Autoimmunity, AIDS and Cancers", Transcript of 18 June 2006 presentation by Dr. Joyce Waterhouse.

Diseases which this mechanism might explain, as mentioned on the above presentation, include inflammatory bowel disease (IBS), Chrohn's Disease, Ulcerative colitis, Arthritis, Lupus, Fibromyalgia, Chonic Fatigue Syndrom, Lyme Disease and Multiple Sclerosis.

Or, if you prefer video, see the YouTube video of a talk by Marshall, at Prof Trevor Marshall's AAEM 2006 Presentation.

He's not claiming that Vitamin D should not be supplemented by most people. He is claiming it should not be supplemented by those with such chronic diseases, because for them, Vitamin D (and Folic Acid and sunlight) make the problem worse rather than better.

And since he's further lobbying the FDA to not expand Vitamin D supplementation, because of the considerable risks it poses to those with such chronic diseases. Due to the current difficulties in diagnosing such diseases, the portion of the population afflicted with them, or at borderline risk for them, is no doubt wider than we know.

[ThePythonicCow]

Obesity is not a disease.

Over here, Some Bacteria make you Fat, some Thin, on his forum, Marshall discusses in more detail the evidence he is finding suggesting that obesity may sometimes have a bacterial cause.

[TChris]

Obesity is not a disease. Heart disease is but it is not getting worse.

Glad I'm not the only one who reacted to those in the same manner.

What he wrote about Vitamin D may be worth considering, but he's out of whack here.

Obesity: Chronic disease? Ummm.... no.