Scare Tactics
In this article, which offers the revolutionary advice to "stop overindulging and start moving," we are told that "[Being] overweight will kill far more Americans each year than any terrorist would dare dream of taking out." and "by 2050, nearly all Americans will be overweight or obese. This would surely break the proverbial bank and totally collapse our health-care system."
Don't raise the terror level yet; a counterpoint can be found here: "Last year, life expectancy in America reached an all-time high. Death rates among all age groups have been in decline for decades. That's true across all races and both sexes. In fact, the life expectancy gap between black and white is narrowing, even though African-Americans are fattening at a greater clip than white Americans. The two diseases most linked to obesity -- heart disease and cancer -- are in rapid decline.
The article admits that advances in medical technology are responsible for much of this, but also says that if obesity is going to cause this huge public health crisis, and if we are fatter than ever, there should be some sign of it by now, and there's not. Hmm. True?
Another interesting point from the article is that "Black women, for example, don't have the same increases in mortality at higher weights than white women do. Campos believes this is because black women have healthier attitudes about weight -- they don't diet as frequently, and eating disorders are rare."
Also that the original figures about deaths from obesity are inflated. Well, yes.
Then again, this article puts a positive spin on the weight problems of those in lower socioeconomic brackets, which as we know is its own can of worms. "Let them eat Big Macs!" isn't exactly the answer either.
Don't raise the terror level yet; a counterpoint can be found here: "Last year, life expectancy in America reached an all-time high. Death rates among all age groups have been in decline for decades. That's true across all races and both sexes. In fact, the life expectancy gap between black and white is narrowing, even though African-Americans are fattening at a greater clip than white Americans. The two diseases most linked to obesity -- heart disease and cancer -- are in rapid decline.
The article admits that advances in medical technology are responsible for much of this, but also says that if obesity is going to cause this huge public health crisis, and if we are fatter than ever, there should be some sign of it by now, and there's not. Hmm. True?
Another interesting point from the article is that "Black women, for example, don't have the same increases in mortality at higher weights than white women do. Campos believes this is because black women have healthier attitudes about weight -- they don't diet as frequently, and eating disorders are rare."
Also that the original figures about deaths from obesity are inflated. Well, yes.
Then again, this article puts a positive spin on the weight problems of those in lower socioeconomic brackets, which as we know is its own can of worms. "Let them eat Big Macs!" isn't exactly the answer either.
posted by mo pie at 5:44 AM
7 Comments:
they are always blowing the trumpet about obesity. we are all going to die prematurely if we don't lose weight, americans will all be over fat by 2050 or whatever.
what they are really doing is trying to scare ugly fat people into being not ugly fat people, and to justify harassing obese people.
too bad, as there are more important things to be concerned about, like eating disorders, terrorism, natural disasters starving people even in america, jobloss etc.
Contrary to what that Cato Institute article says, the disease most linked to obesity, far outstripping cancer or heart disease, is type II diabetes. A British journal reported earlier this year that having a BMI >30 causes your diabetes risk to go up between 10- and 80-fold depending on how long you are obese. And diabetes prevalence is on the rise.
I don't know what data he is referring to when he talks about black women having a lower risk of obesity-related complications, but certainly the statistics on diabetes don't bear this out. According to the National Institutes of Health, non-hispanic blacks are 1.8 times MORE likely than non-hispanic whites of the same age to have diabetes. Hispanic Americans have 1.7 times the risk of non-hispanic whites.
That makes a lot of sense, because I know several overweight people who have developed Type II diabetes. That's an excellent point.
Well, life expectancy is only part of the equation. Sure, we may be living well past 80, but what's the quality of that life like for people with Type II Diabetes, high blood pressure, heart diseas, etc.?
Longer life expectancy itself is a lot more likely to collapse our health care system. We are quickly becoming too many.
One of the reasons diabetes rates are up is because it is being diagnosed earlier. And people are living long enough to get it. Also they redefined the definition of diabetes with lower blood sugar levels (so they can sell more drugs!) And to the previous poster, being fat has not been proven to cause diabetes, it is associated with it. Any article that says it causes it is not based on science. Period! You are right, this is nothing but pure scare tactics. Years ago, fat people lived well into their 80 because they didn't have all these pseudo professionals telling them they couldn't.
Anonymous, I'm a diabetes researcher at a major university, so I'm not just talking out my ass here. To refute your points one by one:
-Diabetes prevalence is not going up because it's more likely to be diagnosed. According to a study published in Diabetes Care in 2004, the ratio of diagnosed to undiagnosed cases of diabetes has not changed significantly since 1976.
-Diabetes prevalence is not going up because people are living longer. The median age of diagnosis with type II diabetes has been around 45 years for several decades, well below the expected lifespan of a typical American.
-The current blood glucose diagnostic cutoff for diabetes of 126 mg/dl has been in effect since at least 1976. It may have changed at some point before then, but there has been a big increase in prevalence using this same criterion.
-I don't know who you're talking about when you say that "they" redefined this criterion to sell more drugs, because drug companies don't get to set diagnostic guidelines, and the NIH doesn't get to sell drugs.
-You're right that being fat doesn't cause diabetes, but a lot of the physiological changes associated with being fat do. Fat tissue secretes a number of hormones that are important for regulation of glucose homeostasis, especially PPAR-gamma and leptin. The more fat tissue you have, the harder it is for your body to correctly regulate levels of these hormones. In addition, many overweight and obese people become so through poor diet, overeating, and lack of exercise, all of which can contribute to diabetes. You are not guaranteed to become diabetic if you're obese, but it dramatically increases your risk.
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