EDl’IORrnThomas FlemingrnSENIOR EDITOR, BOOKSrnChilton Williamson, ]r.rnASSISTANT EDITORrnScott P. RichertrnART DIRECTORrnAnna Mycek-WodeckirnCONTRIBUTING EDITORSrnHarold O.]. Brown, KatherinernDalton, Samuel Francis,rnGeorge Garrett, Paul Gottfried,rnj.O. Tate, Michael Washburn,rnClyde WilsonrnCORRESPONDING EDITORSrnBill Kauffman, William Mills,rnAndrei Navrozov, ]acob Neusner,rnSrdja TrifkovicrnEDITORIAL SECRE’TARYrnLeann DobbsrnPUBLISHERrnThe Rockford InstituternPUBLICATION DIRECTORrnGuy C. ReffettrnCIRCULATION MANAGERrnCindy LinkrnA publication of The Rockford Institute.rnEditorial and Advertising Offices;rn92S North Main Street, Rockford. IE 61103.rnEditorial Phone: (815) 964-5054.rnAdvertising Phone: (81S) 964-58 B.rnSubscription Deparhnent: P.O. Box 800,rnMount Morris, IE 61054. C^all 1-800-877-5459.rnU.S.A. Newsstand Distribntion by Eastern NewsrnDistribntors, Inc., One Media Way, 12406 Rt. 250rnMilan. Ohio 44848-9705rnCopyright© 1998 bjThe Rockford Inshhite.rn/Ml rights reserved.rnChronicles (ISSN 0887-5731) is publishedrnmonthly for $39.00 (foreign subscriptions add $12rnfor surface deliver)’, $48 for .Air Mail) per year bvrnThe Rockford Institute, 928 North Main Sheet,rnRockford. IL 61103-7061. Preferred periodicalrnpostage paid at Rockford, IL and additional mailingrnoffices. POSTMASTER: Scud address changesrnto Chronicles. P.O. Bo.x 800, Mount Morris,rnIL 61054.rnTTic views expressed in Chronicles are thernauthors’ alone and do not necessarily reflectrnthe views of Tire Rockford Instihtte or of itsrndirectors. Unsolicited manuscripts cannot bernreturned unless accompanied h a self-addressedrnstanrped envelope.rnChroniclesrnVol.22, No. 11 November 199SrnPrimed in tlie L’nited States of .AiiKTicarnPOLEMICS & EXCHANGESrnOn Fat and FatterrnRalph Reiland (“Cultural Revolutions,”rnAugust) find himself in the same camp asrnthe AIDS activists in insisting that politicalrnphilosophy dictate physiolog)-. ThernAIDS activists say “AIDS is everyone’srndisease” because they can’t stand thernidea of a virus disproportionately affectingrnthem. Reiland pooh-poohs mountainsrnof evidence of obesity’s harmfulnessrn(heavily documented in my book ThernFat of the Land) because he’s afraid itrnwill be used to implement public policyrnhe doesn’t care for.rnFor more than a century, insurancernactuaries have noted that, on the whole,rnthe fatter you are, the more often you’llrnbe sick and the sooner you’ll die. Theyrnadjusted their premiums accordingly.rnAnd in recent decades, epidemiologistsrnhave quantified what the actuaries havernalways known. The new governmentrnstandard considers unhealthv a bodyrnmass index (BMI) of 25 or above. (BiMIrnis your weight in pounds multiplied byrn705, divided by your height in inchesrnand again by your height in inches.)rnStudies in the United States andrnthroughout the world have shown BMIsrnabove 25 to correlate with prematurernheart attacks, stroke, cancer, diabetes,rnmyriad other illnesses, and overall prematurerndeath. Over half of Americansrnhave a BMI above 25.rnConsider the three largest Americanrnobesitv studies of the 1990’s. The largest,rnreleased in Januar)’ and comprising overrn300,000 men and women, found thatrnlongest life was associated with the leanestrnbodies, specifically with a BMI betw/rneen 19 and 22. Thirty- to 44-vear-oldrnmen averaging six feet tall who were justrn39 pounds overweight (a BMI of 25.3)rnincreased their relative chance of deathrnby 50 percent. The second-largest study,rnof female nurses, foimd a slight correlationrnbetween premature death and higherrnBMIs at less than 25, and the correlationrnincreased appreciably at 25. Thernthird-largest, of Harvard male alumni,rnfound that the thinnest one-fifth livedrnthe longest. Their average BMI wasrn22.5.rnWilliam Castelli, former director ofrnthe longest-running study of men’srnhealth, the Framingham Heart Study,rnput it bluntiy: “The lower your weight,rnthe better off you are.” (Obviously thisrnexcludes starvation or anorexia, but thisrnwould be a BMI of well below 17.)rnIf Reiland had bothered to read myrnbook instead of just attacking it, hernwould know that it deals with the lonernsource he cites to make his case, GlennrnA. Gaesser, at great length. Gaesser, whornis the first to admit that his findings arernout of sync with those of the top obesityrnresearchers in the country, is a major proponentrnof the “fat but fit” philosophy.rnBut while it’s true that a 350-poundrnwoman who walks a mile a day is betterrnoff than one who doesn’t, there is no substituternfor weight loss.rnThis was shown in a study publishedrnin the December 27, 1995, JoumalofthernAmerican Medical Association. Onerngroup of men pursued a moderate ninemonthrnweight loss regimen, eventuallyrnlosing an average of 21 pounds; anotherrngroup remained obese but engaged inrnregular aerobic exercise. In nearly even,’rnmeasured risk factor for heart disease, thernbenefits of weight loss outweighed thosernof exercise.rnBut what of those obese persons whornproclaim on the basis of a few blood testsrnthat they are in fine health? GaesserrnwTites of “Lucy” who, though 206rnpounds at only five feet, five inches, “hasrnexcellent levels of cholesterol, blood sugar,rnand blood pressure.”rnThe trouble is that Lucy is only 30.rnGive a few medical tests to a four-pack-adayrnsmoker at the same age and you canrnexpect her to pass witii flying colors, too.rnJust as almost nobody dies of lung cancerrnat 30, almost nobody dies from obesity atrnsuch a young age. It’s only afterrnmenopause, which usually takes placernaround the late 40’s or early 50’s, that arnwoman’s risk of dying of heart diseasernstarts to go up. Let’s see how Lucy is doingrnwhen she’s up to 300 pounds at agern50. We might have to visit her at therncemeter)’.rnEven Gaesser admits that excessrnweight is deadly. He states, for example,rnthat abdominal fat appears to be responsiblernfor “such killers as heart disease,rncancer, and diabetes.” But anyone who’srnextremely fat carries a large portion of itrnin the abdominal area; men in generalrn4/CHRONlCLESrnrnrn