The rising fat acceptance movement says being overweight isn’t necessarily bad for you - and some doctors agree. Other experts say that being overweight is dangerous. Let’s discuss both cases…
Tyra Banks has a new mission: Cast an unlikely group of aspiring models -namely, those whose curves can fill out a size 14. “Plus-size is really the average American woman,” Banks has said. “And that woman is healthy.” That woman is also more that 20 pounds overweight says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In fact, a growing collective of doctors and activists have begun to argue that lifestyle and genetics are what determine a woman’s health. Many experts have even gone as far as saying that you can be healthy at any dress size. That might be hopeful news for the 33 percent of Americans who are overweight (this doesn’t include the 34 percent who are obese !).
The Case for Healthy Fat
Doctors have long used BMI (Body mass index) to measure whether a patient is at a healthy weight. Anyone scoring above “normal” has been regarded as potentially unwell. But compelling new research shows otherwise, says Paul Campos, author of The Obesity Myth. “The correlation between weight and health is greatly exaggerated,” he says, pointing to studies that found people with an “overweight” BMI to have lower occurrences of lung cancer, chronic bronchitis, anemia, and osteoporosis than their thinner peers. (Being heavier helps fend off osteoporosis, for example, because a little extra mass helps strengthen bones.)
What’s more, a long-term study published in the journal of Obesity found that people with “overweight” BMI scores have a lower risk of mortality than any other weight group.
So, hooray for a little junk in the trunk? Yes, some fat can be beneficial, says an Oxford University researcher. Pear-shaped women can finally rejoice: Thigh, hip, and butt fat is chemically very stable, and stable fat traps harmful compounds released during digestion. Thigh fat also secretes adiponectin, which helps the body metabolize sugar, and leptin, which regulates appetite.
Fortified by such science, the fat-acceptance movement pushes another key point: Extra weight may not be ideal, but it sure beats dieting. Research shows extreme yo-yo dieting can, over time, slow metabolism and cause cardiac stress and it can even lead to long-term weight increases.
The Case Against Healthy Fat
There’s no chance dieting is worse, says the anti-fat-acceptance camp. Weight loss may be difficult, but it’s still worth pursuing in the name of health. Some research shows that extra weight can increase your risk of developing breast cancer. And overweight women with normal cholesterol and blood pressure levels can still go on to develop heart disease at higher rates, says Barbara Berkeley, Director of weight-management services at the Lakehealth System in Cleveland. “In other words, being overweight may look ‘healthy’ but probably isn’t once we follow someone over a period of years,” she says.
Then there’s that question of fat placement. When you gain weight through overeating, you can’t control where the pounds land. Thigh fat might be beneficial, but abdominal fat is not. Nor is dangerous visceral fat, which infiltrates and coats your organs like candle-wax drippings, releasing inflammatory fatty acids that have been linked to cancer and coronary diseases.
And weight gain can be a slippery slope. In Berkeley’s practice, she sees plenty of patients who have let mere love handles escalate into a heaviness that shames them away from the gym or doctor’s office. So she opposes any endorsement of being overweight, and maintains that humans, who once had to hunt and gather to survive, evolved to be a lean species.
Lincoln University recently made headlines when the school set up BMI score graduation requirements: Not under 30? No diploma. (Following a public outcry, the university rescinded the rule.) Both Alabama and North Carolina announced they will charge fat state employees an additional monthly fee for health care. And mega-green grocer Whole Foods started up a voluntary employee incentive program based, in part, on workers’ weights. The lower their BMI, the bigger their discounts.
After all, explains Berkeley, “Your heart is only as big as your fist,” and asking a small muscle to power an overweight frame is “like putting a little engine in an SUV.”
Looking at the bigger picture
If the two sides were to agree on anything, it would be this: Fitness is key, and pounds matter less than type of body fat. “Recently, there have been efforts to look beyond BMI,” says Margaret Lewin, M.D., clinical assistant professor at Cornell University’s Weill Medical College. The old-school measurement does serve a purpose, but its shortcomings are clear.
Exercise, everyone concurs, is crucial. It reduces mortality risk by a whopping 50 percent, regardless of weight, says Steven Blair, Professor at the University of South Carolina. Aerobic exercise and resistance training attack waistline fat, both the padding you can see and the visceral stuff you can’t. Scientists have even found that working out prevents the latter from forming in the first place. In fact, between a plus-size gym-goer and a thin couch potato, the bigger girl is better off, says Blair, and less likely to develop weight-related illnesses.
That’s something to hold on to as the fat-acceptance argument roils. Whether or not extra girth is indeed healthy, everyone should be active.
