There’s been some buzz in the fatosphere these last couple of days about a statement by Dr. Regina Benjamin, the United States Surgeon General, from about a year ago (video below) that is mostly in alignment with the principles of Health at Every Size. She says, in part:
“…The good news is we can be healthy and fit at any size or any weight. As America’s family doctor I want to change the conversation from a negative one about obesity and illness to a positive one about being healthy and fit. So let’s start with making healthy choices. Eat nutritious foods, exercise regularly, and have fun doing it.”
I love that part. I love that it reflects the best information that we have from scientific studies. I love that it reflects a shift from a guilt/shame/fear mentality to a paradigm where people can choose to take good care of themselves because they deserve good care and look for ways to do that that they enjoy. I think that people take better care of things they love than of things they hate so I like that this is going in that direction, I’d love for this to trickle down to Michelle Obama and her campaign of good intentions.
But there’s a little problem. Dr. Benjamin prefaces this statement with an introduction in which she says that obesity and being overweight “result in” high levels of diabetes and other chronic illnesses.
First, this does not reflect the scientific information that we have. Unless there’s a study I’ve missed, no causal relationship has ever been proven between weight and disease, only correlational links have been shown. That means that we can show that they happen at the same time, but not that one causes the other.
If we just have correlational evidence it means that it’s possible that being overweight causes disease (but we haven’t proven that in a lot of tries), or it’s possible that the diseases cause people to be overweight, or it’s possible that they are both caused by a third factor (more and more scientists are hypothesizing that it’s stress), or that they are unrelated. If August had the most violent crimes of any month and the most ice cream eaten of any month, you wouldn’t assume that one was caused by the other. Based on all the science I’ve seen, it’s no more likely that being overweight causes health problems.
I think the larger problem is that it seems contradictory to what she said in the first half of the video. If we can be healthy at any weight or size then how is it possible these diseases are the “result” of being overweight or obese?
According to the American Diabetes Association website:
“Myth: If you are overweight or obese, you will eventually develop type 2 diabetes.
Fact: Being overweight is a risk factor for developing this disease, but other risk factors such as family history, ethnicity and age also play a role. Unfortunately, too many people disregard the other risk factors for diabetes and think that weight is the only risk factor for type 2 diabetes. Most overweight people never develop type 2 diabetes, and many people with type 2 diabetes are at a normal weight or only moderately overweight.”
Still, I’m extremely happy that the Surgeon General of the United States wants to change the conversation, I’m certainly all about rolling up my sleeves and helping!
Here is the video as promised:
Dances With Fat 