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>I often see discussions freely interchange being overweight with being unhealthly, even though we only have data for some types of health conditions correlatin

>I often see discussions freely interchange being overweight with being unhealthly, even though we only have data for some types of health conditions correlating with higher body weight. It's true, not all health conditions are correlated with being overweight. However, a good many of the deadliest health conditions, including heart disease, stroke, cancer, and diabetes are very well correlated with weight. Saying we should discount the effect of weight on health because my weight doesn't predict my susceptibility to car accidents strikes me as misguided. >To my knowledge, there is no single score or data point that can be used to accurately assess an individual's health. That's true, but it's also meaningless. There isn't a single score that allows you to predict everything. But, for most people, BMI correlates quite well with the "big-three" medical ailments: heart disease, stroke, cancer. I think that's valuable enough.

onemoreact 15y ago
Slightly overweight 40+ year old people live longer than underweight or overweight people. Ideal weight vs Overweight is fairly even with some study's showing slightly overweight being heather. http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.c7aaeb7940626693fa418a1eab2291f6.81 http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.c7aaeb7940626693... http://www.oregonlive.com/health/index.ssf/2009/06/portland_researchers_find_slig.html http://www.oregonlive.com/health/index.ssf/2009/06/portland_... PS: This difference could be social vs physical with more active people taking more risks in their daily lives.
king_jester 15y ago
> Saying we should discount the effect of weight on health because my weight doesn't predict my susceptibility to car accidents strikes me as misguided. It's not my intention to make such a statement. BMI does have a usage, but it's more nuanced that most people realize and I wished to point that out. > But, for most people, BMI correlates quite well with the "big-three" medical ailments: heart disease, stroke, cancer. Do you have any more information or citations for this? It was my understanding that BMI alone was not enough of a predictor for certain ailments and conditions and that usually medical professionals also look at additional risk factors in conjunction with BMI, such as family history or habits like smoking.

onemoreact 15y ago

Slightly overweight 40+ year old people live longer than underweight or overweight people. Ideal weight vs Overweight is fairly even with some study's showing slightly overweight being heather. http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.c7aaeb7940626693fa418a1eab2291f6.81 http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.c7aaeb7940626693... http://www.oregonlive.com/health/index.ssf/2009/06/portland_researchers_find_slig.html http://www.oregonlive.com/health/index.ssf/2009/06/portland_... PS: This difference could be social vs physical with more active people taking more risks in their daily lives.

king_jester 15y ago

> Saying we should discount the effect of weight on health because my weight doesn't predict my susceptibility to car accidents strikes me as misguided. It's not my intention to make such a statement. BMI does have a usage, but it's more nuanced that most people realize and I wished to point that out. > But, for most people, BMI correlates quite well with the "big-three" medical ailments: heart disease, stroke, cancer. Do you have any more information or citations for this? It was my understanding that BMI alone was not enough of a predictor for certain ailments and conditions and that usually medical professionals also look at additional risk factors in conjunction with BMI, such as family history or habits like smoking.