Fat fears downgraded in latest CDC study

Thursday, April 21, 2005 5:40 PM CDT

Ahh, finally a study we like.

A little bit of fat is not as dangerous as it used to be - or at least we thought it to be.

That, in our non-scientific language, is our interpretation of the results of new research by statisticians and epidemiologists from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Cancer Institute that was published this week in the Journal of American Medicine.

The new study found that people who are a little overweight have a - get this - lower risk of death than those of normal weight. No doubt that news will get a toast or two at the corner bar or bring a clink of coffee cups at the pie counter in coffee shops around the country.

Last year the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta issued a report saying that obesity was responsible for the deaths of 400,000 Americans each year (a figure that was later changed to 320,000 deaths).

But no, says the new study. After doing a more comprehensive review of statistical mumbo-jumbo and cross-indexing for variables like age, alcohol intake and smoking, the researchers concluded that obesity accounts for only about 112,000 deaths per year.

Instead of ranking second behind tobacco on the list of leading causes of preventable death, obesity was downgraded to the seven spot - behind car crashes and guns. That probably makes it a color yellow on the danger alert color code.

Poof, they saved more than 200,000 lives with the clickety-clack of a computer.

Now that's good news and welcome relief from the litany of fat-fearing propaganda and dire warnings that have swept the country in the past year.

Of course, some were a little more irate about the recent history of fat scaremongering by public officials: those in the restaurant industry, for example.

Our favorite reaction was from the Center for Consumer Freedom, a very nice title for what is essentially a food industry and restaurant lobbying group. According to news reports, they demanded to know "where the CDC stands on this greatly reduced number and whether obesity is truly worse than the Black Death, as you have stated."

The Black Death? We must have missed that CDC announcement or else the food group is engaging in hyperbolic overkill.

But even the researchers on the new report cautioned that "obesity is certainly still a problem." In fact, the researchers said there is a heightened risk of death for the extremely obese, a group that accounts for about 8 percent of Americans.

What's the distinction between normal, overweight and obese and extremely obese? According to news reports, for someone (male or female) who is 5-foot-8-inches tall, normal would be between 122 and 164 pounds; overweight would be 165 to 196; obese would be 197 to 229; and extremely obese would be over 230 pounds.

So now we know.

But before you toss out the bathroom scale in celebration, we would issue this disclaimer: Food and drink - like scientific studies - should all be taken in moderation.

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