As a culture that is obsessed with being thin, what do we do with evidence that weight and mortality aren’t linked in the ways that we’ve previously thought? Recently, there has been a spate of evidence to suggest that there is no intrinsic link between being thin and living a long life. One particular piece of research, by Katherine Flegal with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the US’s leading public health institution, showed a U-shaped curve where death rates were highest for those with a very low or very high BMI.
Of course, correlation is not causation, and there is still evidence to the contrary. But the fact that there is now statistically significant evidence to show that “overweight” and “mildly obese” people live longest, tells us that it’s at least something to consider when we think about fat bodies.
It is hard to say whether this research will lead to any meaningful change in how we think about bodies and weight loss. There is such an emotional, cultural and financial investment in dieting and the diet industry that it seems we will never entirely shake it off. Thin privilege is rampant, and people truly believe that “working hard” to lose weight gives them the moral high ground. Apparently many people believe there’s something virtuous in consuming low-calorie food and going to the gym, and refuse to recognise that that’s a culturally constructed myth that props up the diet industry, patriarchy and oppressive beauty standards. It will take a long time to accept that it could be beneficial to your health to be fatter, purely because so many people are so invested in the belief that it’s not.
Among other things, this new research looks at whether it’s preferable to be consistently and steadily overweight rather than to yo-yo diet. Substantial fluctuations in weight over short periods of time can lead to high blood pressure, heart disease, organ damage and, believe it or not, weight gain. And yet people still do it, because it might, just might, lead to being thin, even temporarily.
Might these findings lead to the dethronement of BMI as the definitive measure of bodies, weight and health? Categories such as “overweight” and “obese” are neither meaningful nor interesting, but they are the terms used to frame the discussion at present. Now could be the right time for the Health at Every Size (HAES) movement to get the recognition it deserves. It is an approach that grounds the concept of health in respect, though it doesn’t even demand that everyone be healthy, something which should be taken into account if we are to be mindful of illness and disability. Instead of prioritising weight loss, it considers wider factors, such as quality of life, sense of wellbeing and the psychological benefits that come with a less punitive approach to diet and exercise.
Should this movement gain traction, it could have one particularly interesting side-effect: perhaps it will make people more upfront about their motivation for losing weight. As a fat person, and a fat activist, I often have to smile and nod while people pleadingly explain to me that they’re losing weight for health reasons, which, to their mind, I cannot argue with.
If scientific opinion now states that overweight people live the longest, surely it’s in everyone’s interest to be overweight. In my experience it’s people who are overweight rather than obese who are most vocal and aggressive about their efforts to lose weight, and those people will now have to fess up that really they’re doing it because they think being fat looks gross. They’ll have to address their prejudices against certain body types, and how they feel about being someone who has one of those bodies. That’s an honesty that I, for one, would appreciate.
