Telling people being obese isn't unhealthy--not productive

[HiPointDem]

22. the science says otherwise; that moderately obese people do, in fact, have a decreased

mortality risk in comparison with normal weight people.

only morbidly obese people and underweight people were found to have increased mortality risk.

People in the field already knew this. There have been lots of smaller studies showing the same thing. I learned about it in grad school. It was presented as a scientific curiousity, a paradox, much like the paradox of countries that drink more and smoke more than americans, yet have lower mortality and morbidity. and the profs' take on it was typically 'we "know" being overweight is unhealthy so there must be something else going on here.'

It's not highlighted in mass media because it goes against the dominant narrative about weight. Until now, because this team of researchers has been doing large studies.

predictable backlash: we 'know' that being overweight is 'unhealthy,' so it can't be true that fat people live longer than normal weight people. But the data shows they do, nevertheless.