I’m running off to school, but here.
Stunning insights abound, such as:
Many people who meet the body mass index criteria for obesity “are really not that sick at all,” says Sharma, chairman for cardiovascular obesity research and management at the University of Alberta and scientific director of the Canadian Obesity Network.
‘Obesity was far less common when it was identified, and then obesity became this gigantic epidemic, with just the assumed outcome that everyone is going to be at risk for vascular disease and a whole bunch of other things,’ says Rachel Wildman, an assistant professor of epidemiology and population health at Albert Einstein College.
‘As it turns out, it seems not to be the case. There is at least a proportion of obese individuals who at this point don’t seem to be at elevated cardiovascular risk.’ Not only is their risk fairly minimal, ‘in some instances it’s better than individuals who are normal weight.'”
‘Treating obesity, like treating any other medical condition, takes resources, you never get it for free and if you’re asking people to do things where you know off the bat that most people are likely to fail then you’re really setting them up for disappointment,’ Sharma said.”
Wildman, of Albert Einstein School of Medicine, agrees that it may be time to deal with the obesity epidemic in a more nuanced way. For one thing, efforts to get everyone to lose weight are falling flat.”
Also, some good quotes from our friend Paul Ernsberger.
Really, I don’t mean to snark. This is a good article, and I’m glad to see the issue getting media play. It’s just that it all seems so fucking obvious.
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