this post was submitted on 14 Oct 2023
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Let's not body shame

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

After some cursory research ([1] among other meta-analyses), this does not seem to be true below the age of 80. Could you cite a source?

[1] https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(16)30175-1

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Sure!

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/1555137

Relative to normal weight, both obesity (all grades) and grades 2 and 3 obesity were associated with significantly higher all-cause mortality. Grade 1 obesity overall was not associated with higher mortality, and overweight was associated with significantly lower all-cause mortality.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Thanks! Both look like very decent studies so I am not certain where the difference comes from. I suspect that the division into age brackets, or averaging across all of the them may be the cause. Either way, it seems that the effects of being slightly overweight are barely statistically significant. The more you know

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

If I've read it correctly, being overweight is "healthier" for longevity. My understanding of science is that being overweight isn't unhealthy, quite the opposite, but its closeness to obesity is the true danger. So it is healthy to be "overweight" according to BMI, but it's close to being obese, which is very unhealthy, so if you don't watch yourself, you could hurt yourself. Aiming to be in the high "normal" BMI or low "overweight" BMI is probably the most reasonable approach. But it may be more difficult for people who build muscle to tell what that is for them.