Fatness no big danger, U.S. studies report

Press, 27 December 1980, Page 6

Fatness no big danger, U.S. studies report

NZPA Baltimore The popular belief that thin people Hve longer than others may not be true despite the plethora of diet* icing promoted around the world, according to recent studies reported in Johns Hopkins magazine. The studies show that the practice of linking extra weight with . premature death is unfounded and even suggest that being underweight is downright risky.

Dr Reubin Andres, a Johns Hopkin* University medical professor, cited 16 studies conducted fa the United States and around the world which found no relationship between obesity and premature death. Some of the studies found that people who weighed more actually lived longer, Dr Andres said. A California study found trnnfaia! mortality for 70-year-old* who were 10 per cent to 20 per cent "oversight,” Dr Andres said. He said that among San Francisco watersiders, the lowest death rates were found in the 30-per-cent overweight group studied. According to a recent report by researchers at the National Institute of Health, thin people, have higher rate of death than peojHe of average weight Using data from a long* term epidemiological survey in the State of Massachusetts, researcher* found that for women, the highest mortality. rata was ftend anm* the thinnest and most obese; weight groups and the .lowest acres* » broad range « women Who fell fa’the mter-j mteiato weight grouf*. For menje.the same ag group, death dmremte with teoemte wtetirt*.. ti* wte fra •• Aarerieeßpomk

Dr Ancil Keys, professor emeritus of physiology at the University of. Minnesota, said that based ,on hi* stat* istics of 12,600 men to the . United States, Japan, and Europe over the last 20 years, “fa the absence of hypertension, overweight is not a risk factor at all. Dr David Levitsky, an associate professor of psychology and of nutrition at Cornell University, has estimated that excess poundage poses a health risk only for about half of overweight people. ' ' < “I’n? not saying it’s OK to be fat,” the magazine quoted hjm a* saying. “If you’re fat, you have to look out for certain pathologies. ; ; "However, if you don’f suffer from any of the obes-ity-related diseases, you shouH realise that if you reduce your weight, you are not necessarily going to live longer,” He said a serious philological risk occurred when people fluctuated repeatedly between thinness and obesity. . ? Dr Andres said obesity posed a danger for persons suffering from or considered among those risking diabetes, hypertension, corona-, ! ry disease, uterine cancer, gall bladder disease, or arth- ' riti* in weightbearing 1 foinUfc • But far the general public, * it appeared that "obesity fa ’ an unimportant .risk factor - for early death ewer a much bmadcr range Of weight 1 than hat been' previously ’ thought," he said. J . ■