This is a confirmation of previous findings, I think, or at least I have seen studies that found this result before. This was the first study, though, that separated this from fitness. Previous results have indicated that fit overweight people live longer than fit normal weight or fit underweight people, and even longer than non-fit people of normal or low weight.
Health and weight is a very complicated question, and I don't think we're anywhere near to resolving it. That's why I'm focused on eating a very healthy diet, getting plenty of exercise, and letting my weight sit a bit higher than a "Normal" BMI. I can't get to a normal BMI eating a healthy number of calories for my activity...its just not feasible, and it's certainly not maintainable for me. So I focus on the things that are definitely indicators as improvers of health and lifespan (exercise, healthy diet) and less on the more questionable factors (the number on the scale).
Julie - do you know if anyone has ever looked at the numbers in each BMI category of body fat percentages? For people with heavier builds to skew longevity data like that, you'd either have a have a highly unrandomized sample (mostly bigger build folks) or the effect of being heavier-built on longevity would have to be so big as to make the average healthier, even if the just overweight/normal build folks were equally or less healthy than the normal weight folks.
My theory is that as you go towards old age, a bit of fat is protective to avoid some of the wasting that can happen in old age. Who knows though. The BMI tables may also be out of date.
I've seen studies like this before.
I agree 100% with Mandalinn82 - it's complected. There's much, much more to good health and lifespan than weight or BMI.
Happiness has a lot to do with good health and mortality - as does outlook.
Because science tends to focus on what can be measured and what is observable, many pieces of the puzzle are missing.
Last edited by susiemartin; 06-25-2009 at 06:16 PM.
Who Would Have Thunk It?
