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August 12, 2008 at 8:42am
by thecodepounder There’s been some buzz lately about a “new study” with what are, but shouldn’t be, surprising results:
A new study suggests that a surprising number of overweight people — about half — have normal blood pressure and cholesterol levels, while an equally startling number of trim people suffer from some of the ills associated with obesity.
Big whoop. Not surprising to me at all.
One of the big reasons that people are “surprised” by this have to do with the relatively new religion of “body mass index” (BMI). To understand what I’m talking about you need to understand where the BMI comes from. The BMI was “invented” by a 19th century Belgian scientist by the name of Adolphe Quetelet. Quetelet, in addition to being an astronomer, mathematician and statistician, was a sociologist. As a sociologist he was one of the first people who attempted to apply probability and statistics to social science–an endeavor he called “social physics”. The BMI was invented as a means of attempting to understand human behavior by looking at body size–kind of a anatomical astrology.
And, of course, the body mass index simply looks at height and weight with no consideration of other factors. As Penn and Teller point out on their Showtime show Penn and Teller: Bullshit! (”Obesity”, Season 5 Episode 1), according to the BMI Brad Pitt and Michael Jordan are “overweight” and Russell Crowe and George Clooney come in at “obese”. Well, that’s very helpful.
The other big reason that people are surprised by this is that it’s simply not possible to equate “good looks” with health. As Americans, we tend to believe that the things we like are the best/good/right things and the things we don’t like are bad or somehow less. Take Christianity: we live in a country full of Christians who can’t agree on which parts of the Bible are to be followed and which are to be ignored. Even the fundagelicals who proclaim that the entire book is the literal truth can’t agree on what that “literal truth” is. So, we decide for ourselves (after decades of being bombarded with the message in advertising and popular culture) that thin=looks good and fat=looks bad. Is it any surprise then, that at some point we drop the word “looks” and are left with thin=good and fat=bad? Well, if thin=good it must also equal good health…
The fact of the matter, as most cardiologists will tell you, is that overweight people who are active and excercise regularly tend to be healthier than thin/fit/trim/skinny (you choose the adjective) people who are sedentary. That’s the deal. It’s a matter of physical activity and, within certain limits, not a matter of weight. Besides, any cardiologist will readily admit to you that the only way to not develop heart disease is by not living long enough in the first place.
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