The following Mark's Daily Apple article was written by Mark Sisson, and is narrated by Tina Lehman.

Is there really an obesity paradox?

A couple weeks ago, I linked to an article on Marksdailyapple.com discussing the obesity paradox,

the idea that across many different studies and populations, people with slightly overweight and even obese BMIs, have the lowest mortality risk. The author is Harriet Brown,

a supporter of the health at every size movement, who comes down hard on the side of overweight and

obesity as safe and even beneficial. At first glance, she makes a strong case. She appears to cite compelling research. She talks to

obesity researchers who have found protective links between higher BMI's and better health, and

bin Laden-based by their colleagues. And if the general consensus is right, and carrying extra

weight is so unhealthy, why are obesity and overweight

consistently associated with a lower risk of death? Brown claims that no other researchers

have been able to make the paradox go away. She highlights and dismisses two possible explanations

for the paradox. First, that heavier people visit

the doctor more often and receive more and better medical treatment than normal weight people.

Although Brown calls this the most popular of the explanations before proceeding to rightly demolish it,

I haven't heard many obesity researchers give it serious thought.

The second explanation is the unhealthy weight loss one. If people who are normal weight because

they lost weight due to cancer, smoking, sarcopenia, or another wasting condition, are lumped in

with people who are normal weight because they're lean, fit, and healthy,

the correlation between normal BMI and mortality is skewed. After admitting there's some evidence

to back up this argument, Brown pivots to the opinion of a single researcher who says,

it certainly does not seem to make the paradox go away. Okay, how comprehensive

was Brown's coverage of the explanations for the paradox? Did she leave anything out? As it turns out,

...