Letters to the Editor
healthyskeptic
Published Letters: 671 Editor's Choice: 14
-
@Shazzer4400
[Read the article: Anorexia: It's not just for teens]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]certainly not in any physical danger.
-- Shazzer4400
Some problems with your math and also your health analysis.
Fist of all, 30lbs is a much larger part of total body weight for a 5'5" 120lb person than a 80lb person. And you're still on the slim side at 120. So, yes you could put on 30lbs and be at a lesser health risk than if you dropped 30lbs, but that's only because you're already thin, dealing with anorexia, and at risk.
Most people would do far better to drop 30lbs than put on 30 lbs as most people are already moderately overweight to obese.
As far as the health consequences of being obese compared with anorexia, both are killers. Obesity has immediate health effects from the added stress on the body. Obese people aren't mobile, likely to be impotent, have trouble breathing, are fatigued constantly, etc. Additionally their fat is producing hormones which lead to depression and other psychological effects as well as further reducing metabolism in a downwards spiral. Obesity is a long, slow, painful death.
True, extreme anorexia will kill a person quickly, as they basically starve themselves to death. But that's statistically almost non-existent. Less than one on a million. Moderate anorexia untreated leads to many of the same symptoms of obesity, i.e. fatigue, chronic psychological and physical health problems. But it can be treated effectively with treatment fairly easy to administer, like nutritional smoothies. Moderate anorexia is still one in a couple hundred thousand, compared with one in three for obesity, so statistically it's not even close.
-
@ unc70
[Read the article: Anorexia: It's not just for teens]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Research elsewhere (Wisconsin, maybe) indicates that much of the obesity epidemic might be caused by an adenon-virus which interferes with the cell protein feedback mechanism that controls fat retention. I have posted links to this elsewhere. If this research is confirmed, then the moralists will suffer a bigger smackdown than when we learned that most gastric ulcers are caused by bacteria, not by bad life choices.
Oh BS.
What a coincidence that this "virus" happened to cause obesity rates to increase exponentially at the same time rates of exercise and physical labor were plummeting and the consumption of processed junk foods were increasing exponentially. Also a huge coincidence that young people developing good habits like exercise and dietary control tend to be immune to the "virus" their peers who don't exercise or practice dietary control are carrying.
Also amazing how this "virus" must be a new energy source making the mitochondria in our cells much more efficient. Perhaps it super-charges our muscles, or even defies the laws of physics. Because apparently this "virus" allows people to burn far less calories to perform the same amount of exercise/labor as a thin and muscular person who somehow doesn't have the calories left over to store a lot of fat.
Maybe we can solve the energy crisis with the "fat virus" and use it to power our cars! If we added it to gasoline, we'd probably get 300mi/gallon Hummers!
:rolleyes:
-
@_allie, statistically challenged
[Read the article: Anorexia: It's not just for teens]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]To the person who said anorexics who kill themselves are a statistical blip: As many as 20% of anorexics die, often from heart problems. And an estimated 5% of young girls are anorexic. That's not a blip.
Several hundred thousand times the number of people die of obesity related diseases than die of anorexia, every year. Morbid anorexia is about on par with death via lighting strikes and bee stings annually.
Morbid anorexia occurs in about one in a million people. Other disease with that level of incidence you've probably never even heard of before, and are statistically less than a blip.
All overweight to obese people have quality of life and health damage. Morbidly obese people have a terrible quality of life, and almost all die as a result of obesity related diseases. Diabetes Type II is 80% caused by obesity, and causes blindness, loss of limbs, chronic fatigue, etc.
Overweight account for two in three Americans. Obesity is one in three. Morbid obesity is That's 200 Million overweight people in America alone, 100M obese.
The health and economic costs of obesity compared with anorexia are at opposite ends of the spectrum.
-
@ Allie
[Read the article: Anorexia: It's not just for teens]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]And an estimated 5% of young girls are anorexic. That's not a blip.
And FYI: that is complete, and utter, BS.
I don't know where you got that propaganda, but the real statistics for incidence of mild anorexia in girls are about one in 300,000. Not even close to 0.1% let alone 5%!
Slightly under eating or having less than ideal dietary habits is not "anorexia" or even close.
Nobody eats a perfect diet, and most people eat a little too much or a little too little, or not exactly the correct foods, at the right time, etc.
Sure, there is a tiny statistical outliers of girls eating too little for the exercise they take, maybe 5%. For which they'll have little to no health complications even if it continues and most won't continue as adults tend to eat more and put on weight. But over 50% of kids are now eating way too much and way too inactive, with childhood obesity, childhood type II diabetes, etc rates skyrocketing.
It's really pathetic that some people are so delusional they feel the need to equivocate the two, when it's no comparison at all.