Obesity alone is not the cause of those deaths; it is just another symptom. In fact, when fat is stored subcutaneously, there appears to be little to no increas

Obesity alone is not the cause of those deaths; it is just another symptom. In fact, when fat is stored subcutaneously, there appears to be little to no increase in mortality, and, for some (middle aged women at least), it is actually protective. The real disease is metabolic syndrome, which affects both thin people and fat people. It is a constellation of disorders including abdominal weight gain, fatty liver disease, high blood pressure, dyslipidemia, and high blood sugar or diabetes. Metabolic syndrome is the killer (often leading to cardiovascular disease, liver or kidney failure, blindness, amputations, and, perhaps, dimentia/Alzheimer's [the studies on this are early and not yet cinclusive]), but our society is so focused on weight that thin people automatically assume they are immune to it and everybody carrying any extra weight is assumed to have one foot in the grave. If you eat like crap (a sugar-laden, high trans fat diet of processed food-like substances), you are at risk unless you won the genetic lottery (and those genetics may just buy you time, not immunity).