More evidence that the health lobby are misleading us

It is always eye opening to find a piece of disinterested* research that challenges received wisdom. This time we find, via The Scotsman , that not everything we have been told about being overweight is doom and gloom and that there is some good news:

BEING overweight or mildly obese means you will live longer on average than people who are slim or skinny, according to the astonishing conclusion of a team of statistics experts.

A person who is overweight can expect to live two and a half months longer than someone of 'ideal' weight and 15 months longer than an underweight person, concludes the study of the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and longevity.

Hang on a minute wasn't only a few months ago that we were being told being obese was as good as a death sentence? Ah, here it is:

The World Health Organization has described obesity as "one of the greatest neglected public health problems of our time with an impact on health which may well prove to be greater than smoking".
...
The National Obesity Forum says obesity is thought to cause 10% of cancers in non-smokers. In addition, death rates from all cancers were 52% higher in men who were morbidly obese and 62% higher in women. Obesity is specifically linked to an increased risk of breast, endometrial and colon cancers

Well if the WHO says obesity is an epidemic worse than smoking and the NOF say it causes all diseases then those who published this report must be cranks and charlatans then?

The research, by actuarial mathematicians at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, appears to overturn the widespread assumption that the fat face an early grave. And in the age of size-zero models, it also highlights the dangers of being underweight.

Whoa, actuarial mathematicians aren't renowned for being hot headed cranks who take delight in challenging the establishment, so what is happening here?

All it shows really is that doctors and the health lobby are not disinterested parties trying to advise us on the latest knowledge but are spinning medical research to further their own prejudices. I don't blame medical researchers, they appreciate that their work is part of a continuum and all they are telling is the latest knowledge based on their current work and interpretations of the results. I do blame doctors' leaders though, they are a bunch of arrogant bastards who should know better.

It seems that medical knowledge has moved on since research showed leeching and blood letting would cure all our ills, but the arrogance and certainty of doctors hasn't.

But I reserve may real opprobrium for politicians and civil servants who take the advice of people like The Obesity Forum who "thought" that obesity caused all these ailments and diseases, and unquestioningly inflict all sorts of scare mongering nonsense on us, using our money. A plague on all their houses.

(Hat tip to An Englishman's Castle from where I found the article in the Scotsman)

*1. unbiased by personal interest or advantage; not influenced by selfish motives