Calling fat folks sick may raise some hackles in our cringing new era of political correctness. But in cold reality, people of color are still financially deprived, waitpersons still wait, and ecological executives still hump the garbage. A spade is still a spade, and the "gravitationally challenged" still bear America's heaviest health burden.
BODYFAT BREEDS DISEASE: Lets examine the fat/sick link. The Framingham Heart Study has been going on for over 4 decades. It's America's best. Succesive follow-ups over 26 years, shows that weight gain after adulthood causes a huge increase in risk of all types of cardiovascular disease. It doesnt have to be much pudge. Even a 10% increase above ideal weight causes a 6-7% increase in blood pressure. Thats only 15lbs extra on a 150 lbs person. And losing that extra weight causes and immediate drop in blood pressure of 10-11%. So there's no doubt that the bodyfat was causing the illness. The seriously overweight folk are in dire straights. Women for example, carrying 50-60lbs of extra padding are 700% more likely to develop hypertension.
...AND DIABETES: Serious overweight also causes rapid diabetes. Both men and women carrying 60lbs. extra or more, are 3000% more likely to develop diabetes. Even moderate overweight increases your risk of diabetes by about 100%
...CANCER TOO: Cancer also LOVES bodyfat. The American Cancer Society did a massive 20-year study involving over a million Americans in 25 different states. Results showed that men who are 40% overweight, have higher rates of prostate cancer, colon cancer, and rectal cancer. Women who are 40% or more overweight, have higher rates of breast cancer, ovarian cancer, uterine cancer, gall bladder cancer, cervical cancer, and endometrial cancer. Corpulent is sick indeed.
...AND ALL THE REST: I can cover only a fraction of the fat/sick studies because overweight is a big cause of almost all diseases. Even moderate fatness damages the immune system, reducing your resistance to everything. Being overweight going into surgery, for example increases your risk of post-operative infections by up to 700%. And giving the lie to those "healthy fat cheeks" of childhood, studies show that fat babies get twice as many infections as slim babies.
JUST A LITTLE HAPPY FAT: Folk who are only moderately overweight show typical defensive reactions to the evidence that fat is sick. They would suck in their stomachs and laugh, "this is just happy fat". Or they slap a plump thigh and exclaim, "God made me this way, healthy and comfortable". The latest study shows that even mildly chunky die young, At the Havard School of Public Health, Dr. I-Min Lee and colleagues tracked 19,297 healthy Harvard men who graduated between 1916 and 1950. Smokers were exluded as unacceptable health risks.
By 1988, 4,370 of the men had died- mostly chunky. The less the man weighed throughout his life, the lower their risk of death. Men who were 20% below the average for Americans of comparable age and height had the best expectation of long and healthy lives.
With 32.6% of Americans classified as overweight and another 40 million on the way, bodyfat is by far our worst health risk. It causes more illness than all the enviornmental and nutrition problems, than smoking, alcohol, and all other drugs put together. It's infinitely worst than over-publicized AIDS.
Yet, to the ignorant, overweight is little more than a good butt for humor. It is sort of comical that Americans waddle enough fat around to feed the whole starving Africa, and would gladly pay the shipping, but the disease it causes is NO JOKE. Obesity is widespread~no punt intended.