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| Is Being A Little Overweight Really OK? The BMI Controversy |
| Richard N. Fogoros, M.D |
| 2/9/2010 |
| Is being somewhat overweight - having a moderately elevated BMI - associated with increased medical risk, or is it not? While obesity pretty clearly increases medical risk, and while society and the medical experts have lately placed great emphasis on maintaining a "normal" body weight, the excess risk posed by being merely overweight (as opposed to obese) is less clear. ... Virtually all studies using BMI scores agree on a few points. First, patients who are obese or extremely obese have a greatly increased risk of cardiovascular disease and death. Second, patients who are underweight also have an increased risk of death. (This is thought to be mainly because of underlying disease processes - such as heart disease, lung disease, cancer or infection -which themselves often produce weight loss as the disease progresses.) If there is a controversy it centers around individuals who are classed as overweight, but not obese, that is, whose BMI scores are a bit over 25. Most studies have shown increased medical risk even for this mild state of overweight. But a few studies show a slightly lower risk for these individuals. Several explanations for this apparent discrepancy have been suggested, but the one that has the most traction is the idea that the BMI measure itself - which simply takes into account one's weight and height - often gives a false measure of "overweight" if a person is simply in good shape and has good muscle mass. That is, for healthy individuals with BMIs of 25 or 26, the "excess" weight may actually not be fat. Click here for full article |
| Additional Information: http://heartdisease.about.com/od/reducingcardiacrisk/a/BMI_score.htm |