5 Health Care Myths
On this website, I found "5 Health Care Myths", which I have intuitively known but didn't have the research information to discuss it. Therefore, I am printing their information here. At the time of this writing, the pdf version was available from the home page of the website.
5 HEALTH CARE MYTHS
by Francie M. Berg
Many health professionals today have moved on to a healthy living approach of sound and compassionate care in dealing with weight issues. Unfortunately, however, many others promote and provide care that is based on misinformation, myth and size bias, rather than accurate and up-to-date scientific information. Consider these myths and controversies:
Myth #1. Obesity causes severe health risks. Unknown, but it seems doubtful. Obesity has been associated with in the past and assumed to cause a higher risk for type 2 diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular disease. More recent federal research questions this. The evidence indicates these risks, as well as obesity itself, are likely caused by other factors, especially genetics and inactivity. (Increased physical activity dramatically reduces risk without weight loss.) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
Myth #2. Thinner is healthier. False. The lowest death rate according to the latest federal research is within the "overweight" range (BMI of 25 to 29.9) and up to BMI 35. Lower weight and extremes of higher weight are linked to increased risk in a "U" curve. This confirms much earlier research, including a 1998 review of 236 controlled studies by the National Institutes of Health that found the lowest risk associated with a BMI of about 25 to 27. (Despite this evidence from their own studies, federal agencies continue to define normal or healthy weight at a much lower point, a BMI of only 18.5 to 24.9.) 8, 9, 10
Myth #3. Losing weight reduces risk. False. Long-term studies indicate higher risk with weight loss. Higher death rates weight loss are shown by more than 15 large comprehensive studies, including the Fram-ingham Heart Study, Harvard Alumni Study and NHANES follow-up. Researchers suggest the loss of lean mass from bones, muscle, heart and organs may be jeopardizing health, especially for older people.11, 12, 13, 14, 15
Myth #4. Obese people can lose weight safely and permanently. False. No current methods are proven safe and effective; all can be considered experimental. Dieting causes short-term weight loss lasting no more than six months, followed by regain, and leads to food preoccupation, bingeing, dysfunctional eating and sometimes eating disorders; also it causes weight cycling, a known mortality risk. Drugs offer only minimal weight loss (5-11 pounds) and must be taken long-term, with increased risk; of 6 million adults who took fen-phen/Redux, FDA reports one-third developed leaky heart valves, some fatal, and others died of primary pulmonary disease. Gastric surgery carries risk of nearly 5% mortality rate in the first year (nearly 50% death rate for age 75 and over) in a recent Medicare study, as well as over 60 complications, including severe infection, leaks, blood clots and malnutrition.16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22
Myth #5. Scaring people about overweight promotes weight loss and obesity prevention, and does no harm. False. Research shows that the increasing pressures to lose weight over the past 30 years are paralleled by increases in obesity. Far from doing no harm, these pressures appear to have backfired and led to widespread nutrient deficiencies, dangerous weight loss efforts, eating disorders, malnutrition, occasional deaths, body hatred and size harassment. 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29
These five myths benefit, not the public or health community, but primarily the weight loss industry. The fiction the myths keep alive is that overweight is a severe health risk that threatens most adults and adds greatly to health care costs; therefore, weight loss is urgently needed – even when unsafe and ineffective. A more appropriate healthy living approach emphasizes moderate and regular activity, normal eating without dieting, acceptance, respect, and physical, emotional and spiritual well-being for children and adults of all sizes.
References
1. Taylor R. Causation of Type 2 diabetes – The Gordian knot unravels. N Engl J Med 2004;350:639-641. 2. Miller W. Health promotion strategies for obese patients. Healthy Weight J 1997:11:3:47-51. 3. Blair SN, Kohl HW, Barlow CE. Physical activity, physical fitness, and allcause mortality in women: do women need to be active? J Am Coll Nutr 1993;12(4):368371. 4. Barlow CE, Kohl HW III, Gibbens LW, Blair SN. Physical fitness, mortality and obesity. Int J Obesity 1995;1 (Suppl 4):S41-44. Miller W. Health promotion strategies for obese patients. Healthy Weight J 1997:11:3:47-51. 5. Blair SN, Bodney S. Effects of physical inactivity and obesity on morbidity and mortality: Current evidence and research issues. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise 1999;31:S646-S662. 6. Flegal KM, Graubard BI, et al. Excess deaths associated with underweight, overweight, and obesity. JAMA 2005;293:1861-1867. 7. Berg F. Underage and Overweight: Our Childhood Obesity Crisis – What Every Family Needs to Know, 2005, 2004, p13-29. New York: Hatherleigh Press. 8. Flegal KM. JAMA 2005;293:1861-1867. 9. NIH-NHLBI Clinical Guidelines on Identification, Evaluation, and Treatment of Overweight and Obesity. National Institutes of Health, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Pre-print June 1998. Bethesda, MD. 10. Berg F. Underage and Overweight, p147-151. 11. NIH Technology assessment conference: Methods for voluntary weight loss and control. Conference report: program and abstracts. March 30-April 1, 1992. Office Medical Research, Bethesda, MD 20892. 12. Andres R, Muller DC, Sorkin JD. Long-term effects of change in body weight on all-cause mortality: a review. Ann Intern Med 1993;119:737-743. 13. Williamson DF, Pamuk E, Thun M, et al. Prospective study of intentional weight loss and mortality in never-smoking overweight US white women aged 40-64 years. Am J Epidemiol 1995;141:1128-1141. 14. Allison DB, Zannolli R, Faith MS, et al. Weight loss increases and fat loss decreases all-cause mortality rate: results from two independent cohort studies. I J Obesity 1999;23:603-611. 15. Berg F. Underage and Overweight, p13-29, 156-194. 16. NIH Technology assessment conference: Methods for voluntary weight loss and control. March 30-April 1, 1992. 17. Lee IM, Paffenbarger RS Jr. Is weight loss hazardous? Nutr Rev 1996;54(suppl):S116-124. 18. Kassirer JP, Angell M. Losing weight: An illfated New Year’s resolution. N Engl J Med 1998;338:5254. 19. Garner DM, Wooley SC. Confronting the failure of behavioral and dietary treatments for obesity. Clin Psych Rev 1991;11:729-780. 20. Lissner L, Odell P, et al. Variability of body weight and health outcomes in the Framingham population. New Engl J Med 1991;324:1839-44. 21. Flum DR, Salem L, et al. Early Mortality Among Medicare Beneficiaries Undergoing Bariatric Surgical Procedures JAMA 2005;294:1903-1908. 22. Berg F. Underage and Overweight, p156-194. 23. Third report on nutrition monitoring in the US, Vol 1-2, Dec 1995. Life Sciences Research Office, US Health/Human Serv, US Dept of Agriculture. Natl Ctr for Health Statistics, NHANES III. Advance Data Nov 14, 1994. 24. Levine P. President’s message. Eating Disorders Awareness and Prevention Newsletter. Spring 1995:1-3. 25. Pipher M. Reviving Ophelia. 1994. Ballantine Books, Random House, NY. 26. Fallon P, M Katzman, S Wooley, edits. Feminist perspectives on eating disorders. 1994. Guilford Press, NY. 27. Grange D, J Tibbs, J Selibowitz. Eating attitudes, body shape, and self-disclosure in adolescent girls and boys. Eating Dis 1995:3:3:253-264. 28. Smolak L, M Levine. Toward an empirical basis for primary prevention of eating problems with elementary school children. Eat Disorders 1994;2:4:293-307. 29. Berg F. Underage and Overweight, p76-94, 195-205.
Reprinted and adapted from Underage and Overweight: Our Childhood Obesity Crisis – What Every Family Needs to Know, by Frances M. Berg, M.S. New York: Hatherleigh Press. Copyright 2008, 2005, 2004 by Frances M. Berg. All rights reserved. The author permits use of this feature as a handout or in nonprofit newsletters for educational purposes, provided it is reproduced in its entirety with this citation. Written permission is required for use in books or publications for sale. Contact Healthy Weight Network, 402 S. 14th St., Hettinger, ND 58639 (701-567-2646; fax 701-567-2602). www.healthyweight.net
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