But, contrary to expectations, the obese did not have an increased risk of dying from cancer. They were slightly more likely than people of normal weights to die of a handful of cancers that are thought to be related to excess weight — cancers of the colon, breast, esophagus, uterus, ovary, kidney and pancreas. Yet they had a lower risk of dying from other cancers, including lung cancer. In the end, the increases and decreases in cancer risks balanced out.Talk about running contrary to general wisdom. Researchers DID caution people that mortality should not be confused with health, and many of the longer-living fat people had poorer health overall. But this study may well rewrite many of our ideas about how militant to be about weight control and body image.
As for diabetes, it showed up in the death rates only when the researchers grouped diabetes and kidney disease as one category. Diabetes can cause kidney disease, they note. But, the researchers point out, the number of diabetes deaths may be too low because many people with diabetes die from heart disease, and often the cause of death is listed as a heart attack.
8 Kasım 2007 Perşembe
Fat People Actually Live Longer?
That is what a new study appears to be saying. The study followed a group of thin people, fat people, and obese people, and found that the fat group had far fewer deaths than the thin group.
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Wow! I know that many in my family, on both sides, are/have been obese and many have lived long, relatively healthy lives. Even the diabetics seem to have lived longer than average. The ones that have died young seem to have had reasons (smoking combined with birth control pills in the 1970s) or unusual things without known causes (brain hemmorage).
YanıtlaSilIt is encouraging to know that I have to just follow the same guidelines as everyone else. Keep blood pressure, cholesterol, etc. under control. Eat a balanced diet. Get regular checkups to keep tabs on current or potential problems.
Studying death rates is kind of odd to me, because with humans there is a 100% death rate (maybe more if you count the number of people who die and get brought back to life then die again at a later date). I understand that they're studying why people die not if people die, but still it seems odd to me. It seems that it would be better to study overall health (a combination of mental, physical and even spiritual health) to see how (and if) weight factors into people's lives. Ultimately to me it's more about people living healthy lives and not what it is that killed them.
YanıtlaSilIt is important to understand what they are saying here. It is that being overweight is NOT an automatic sentence to early death, which is what most of the health-food nazis believe and preach. (And if you don't know what a health-food nazi is, it is NOT a diet expert but rather a health nut who equates overweight with the darkest of sins.) That is huge.
YanıtlaSilThat being said, it does not address any individual's likelihood to die young. Being fat is much more dangerous to someone with a preexisting family tendency toward heart disease or liver failure, for instance. It is still STRONGLY advisable to take care of yourself and stay in shape. But this study reminds us that a few pounds need not be the end of the world. That is something our current culture needs to learn.
Of course, that is coming from a fat man so I am hardly unbiased.
just in time for Thanksgiving!
YanıtlaSil@quizwedge
YanıtlaSilso maybe this study was actually funded by Butterball to get us to eat more this year. ;)