The Bottom Line

On Body Weight

For years, doctors and others have been screaming from the rooftops that excess pounds are unhealthy. Now several reports show that it’s not that simple and it’s possible to be both hefty and healthy. So how can you do it?

A study of 2,600 people published in the Journal of The American Medical Association showed that physically active people had about the same mortality rate regardless of whether they were underweight, normal weight or overweight. In fact, the news was even better for those who were overweight. People who were obese, but fit and in good cardiovascular health, had a strong survival edge over those who were thin couch potatoes.

Most most, the fact is

Once obese, always obese.

The problem is that 95 percent of obese people never win the battle of the bulge. If you are in the 5 percent group, who can have some lasting success with losing weight, then you should do it.  Especially if you have abdominal fat.

Researchers at the Mayo Clinic looked at data involving 600,000 people from around the world to show that abdominal fat is the worst kind of fat. As in real estate, it’s all about location, location, location.

What are the magic numbers? For men, waist measurement should not exceed 109 centimeters (43 inches). For women, it should not be over 94 centimeters (37 inches). This doesn’t mean you’re going to lose many years of life, but for men over 40, it’s a loss of three, and for women five.

What’s so important about abdominal fat? Dr. James Cerhan, author of the study, says this fat is more metabolically active, closer to internal organs and this location can interfere with glucose control.

The bad news is that this metabolically active fat means you gain abdominal weight quicker. But if you watch calories you can also lose abdominal fat faster.

Yet, the problem is that 95 percent of obese people never win the battle of the bulge. So this research is of no help to them in decreasing the risk of cancer and respiratory deaths. But like everyone else, obese people can beat coronary attack by taking high doses of vitamin C and lysine every day.