Overweight people, not the obese, live longer

At Kamuthoita where I received my primary education, physical bullying was not allowed to protect weaklings like yours truly who were a little weedy and scrawny on account of either too little food and too much work (child labour, I hear it is called these days), or simply due to being blessed with a robust a metabolism.

Coining nicknames for others because of their physical attributes or their quirky ways was, however, not considered too offensive.

A young classmate had been nicknamed the Kikuyu equivalent of ‘fatso’ because he looked like a walking blob of fat.

Only bullies bigger and stronger than he could dare call him that because he was bigger and stronger than his age mates.

Those of us foolish enough to call him ‘fatso’ and get caught used to suffer the ignominy of being wrestled and pinned to the ground where they groaned helplessly under his considerable weight, and made to swear they would never use the word again even to a pig.

We would these days perhaps call the young man overweight; looking back now it is unlikely that he would have been obese; there wasn’t enough fat, in the hills of Murang’a, to eat and store in his body to make him obese.

It shouldn’t have mattered if he was overweight really, according to a study done in Canada and published in June last year.

Excess pounds, but not too many, may actually be good for you. Being overweight might actually help you live longer.

The study analysed data on over 11,000 Canadian adults aged 25 years and older who were followed over a 12-year period.

It found that people who are overweight, but not obese were less likely to die than people of normal weight.

Body Mass Index (BMI) provides the most accurate measure of whether one has a normal weight, is overweight or obese.

To be considered to be carrying your normal weight your BMI should fall between 18.5 to 24.9.

A BMI falling between 25 and 29.9 is considered overweight and beyond that one is said to be obese.

Overall, the study found that overweight people lived much longer and had a 17 per cent lower risk of dying than people who fall under ‘normal’ BMI.

If, however, your BMI is under 18.5 you have a serious underweight problem and your risk of dying is 73 per cent higher than that of people within the normal BMI scale.

Well, well, so what are going to do now all ye weight watchers who measure your BMI three times a day and wouldn’t eat anything else except steamed cabbage?

Don’t head to the nearest junk food eatery and stuff your faces.

The researchers say they only looked at mortality and not at the quality of life.

“It may be that a few extra pounds protect older people as their health declines.”

There you are and nature will give you the middle age spread without asking for it and all you will need to do keep it from becoming a potbelly ( for every inch your waistline exceeds the size of your chest you can deduct two years from your life!)

Actually, come to think of it, why is chubbiness equated to health and affluence in most traditional cultures?

One hypothesis is that natural selection favours those with fatty padding on their bodies.

A little extra fat allowed people to survive famines and consumption and the ‘fatsos’ were the only ones who managed to pass their genes to the next generation as opposed to the thin who dropped like flies within a few days of the advent of famine.

I am sure there will be another research next year or the year after which will probably conclude that obese people make better sumo wrestlers, and underweight women make better models.

But learn this from me; skinny does not necessarily mean healthy, don’t start eating like a pig in order to get overweight (it will be doubly costly —in fitting `a new wardrobe and an increased kitchen budget) and if you must get overweight take your BMI reading every hour to keep yourself from tipping into the obese territory (and sure death).

Above all don’t worry, be happy.