Get ready everybody, because your fat friends are about to start playing the “Whatever I’ll have fewer heart problems than you” card when it comes to justifying the fact that they just got a third serving of dessert…in a restaurant. How the fuck you can still be hungry enough to get dessert after eating a giant oversized portion of food at a restaurant I’ll never know, but I’ve seen it done. And it’s kinda gross.
” U.S. researchers found the risk of heart attack and death from cardiovascular complications is highest among underweight patients – with death rates the lowest in heavier people.
While obesity is linked to higher levels of insulin, higher blood pressure, higher cholesterol and diabetes, the new figures suggest there is an ‘obesity paradox’.
One explanation may be that overweight patients are more likely to be prescribed medication to control high blood pressure and cholesterol levels than slimmer people – and in higher doses.They are also more likely to undergo procedures such as bypass surgery – and traditionally been considered to have a worse recovery rate because of their size.
But research is increasingly suggesting that a higher BMI protects against death from many diseases – despite the fact it may help trigger them in the first place.”
Okay now that’s cheating, of course you’re going to be less likely to have a heart attack if you’re on frickin’ medication for it. But the fact that having a higher BMI may protect you from diseases? That’s something noteworthy…but of course I just ignored the fact that it can also trigger illness in the first place. It’s a give and take, I guess.
“Those with a low BMI – defined as less than 20 – had between a 1.8- to 2.7-fold higher risk of heart attack and death from heart problems.
Conversely, the risk of death from cardiovascular complications was lowest among overweight patients with a high BMI (25-30) compared to people with a normal BMI (20-25).
But it was severely obese people who fared the best, according to the study.
The death rate in those with a BMI in the 30-35 and over-35 range was up to 27 per cent lower than those with a normal BMI. ‘At this stage, we can only speculate on the reasons for this paradox,’ said Dr Sharma…Dr Sharma added: ‘Obese and overweight patients have been found to have large coronary vessel damage, which might contribute to more favorable outcomes [than those who have smaller damaged vessels].
Commenting on the study, obesity expert Dr Kamyar Kalantar-Zadeh, of the University of California Irvine Medical Centre, said: ‘Although the underlying mechanisms of the obesity paradox remain unclear, the consistency of the data is remarkable.
‘[It leaves] little doubt that these observational data are biologic plausibility.
But he warned the research was not a green light to ignore the dangers of obesity.”
Science can say what it wants, but I’d rather die at a slender 75 years of age rather than live to be 90 and have people mistake me for a cow whenever I go out in public. To each their own, I suppose.