Interesting short note on body size

[Anthony S]

I wasn't sure where to post this but perhaps some will find this interesting.

I don't study Chinese Medicine. I simply practice and teach what I have learned from Sifu. From what is revealed in this short news article it concurs with what people have believed for ages until today. Now the culture reflects an obsession with being thin to the point that many suffer from having an unhealthy view of themselves if they don't look like people on Television.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.c7aaeb7940626693fa418a1eab2291f6.81&show_article=1

On a humorous note people that eat an American diet can adhere to this study's findings easily....

[Chiahua]

Very interesting, thank you for the post! If anyone's interested the original article is attached.
The actual article implies an increased mortality among those who have exceptionally a low or high body mass index.

[barrys]

Just before any "thin" people freak out and start stuffing themselves :

a 5 foot 11 inch (1.8 metre) man would have to weigh 9 1/2 stone (60kg) or under to qualify for the "thin" category in this study

a 5 foot 6 inch (1.68 metre) woman would have to weigh 8 stone 3lbs (52kg) or under

Barry

[AlexBaranosky]

For those Americans who are 5' 11", that is about 132.5 lbs to qualify as thin. AKA you'd be emaciated.

If you are 5' 6", then you're thin if less than 115 lbs.

[Omar]

Hello all.

Personally, I am quite the sceptic regarding these kind of tests, especially those involving body mass index, height and weight.

Foremost there are many that sadly speculate in other peoples lack of knowledge and/or shaky self confidence, and use body mass index calculations from weight and height to openly or indirectly market their commercial product. I see this daily in most newspapers, notably the online ones.

Second, and most importantly I believe, you cannot use body mass index etc on a wide general scale.

People can in this case be compared to trees, we all have different builds and body shapes.

Thus someone with a powerful compact build might get told by the calculations that he/she is overweight when they may be perfectly healthy, the system does not account for their natural build.

Same off course for people that may be built like long slender embers; they may not necessarily be too thin.

The measurements posted here by Barry does seem quite sensible though.

[Anthony S]

I agree with you Omar. Most "tests" don't control for as many factors as one would like to see.

In history getting food wasn't easy. People ate what they could get. Being fat was generally a sign of wealth and privilege. Although the Bible warned of gluttony it really wasn't an option for most people. Now food is so plentiful and inexpensive for most people one has to be mindful not to eat too much.

[Andrea]

The fact that a study shows "statistically relevant" results and finds a "statistical correlation" between two factors does not mean it is necessarily true. It simply means that statistically it is possible and thus worth considering.

Thus if a study finds that all those who like bananas tend to die earlier than those who like apples, it does not mean that if you like apples you life longer . (Which is the type of conclusion popular news magazines tend to make out of scientific papers. The apple company's of course will love both the magazines and the scientists )

So what's the point of such research? For those researching the area the results might open up new perspectives urging them to further study "apples" and whether or not they could help people to live longer ... ergo .. studies and statistics are valuable tools to move research ahead, but should imho (in my humble opinion) not be considered a truth until the results have been confirmed by a very large amount of studies under various conditions. And even then will only be an indication of the general likeliness but not of the individual case. As most research in the past has focused on a high BMI, this research might shake up some minds and open up completely different perspectives....

Andrea