ext_124728 ([identity profile] sarahmichigan.livejournal.com) wrote in [personal profile] sarahmichigan 2007-02-08 01:36 pm (UTC)

Many of the studies you cite come down to this: if you're going to be weak and ill, it's better to be weak and ill with padding and energy reserves.

It's still better, overall, to be non-weak, non-ill, and non-obese.


Some, but not all come down to that. It's probably the fat itself that is protective in some cases, and a similar weight in muscle is NOT as protective. For instance, it is probably something about the way fat stores hormones that makes being obese protective against breast cancer for pre-menopausal women. And studies about putting on weight below the waist being protective against heart disease clearly show that people with more FAT on the thigh, and NOT more muscle, that corresponds with protection against heart disease.

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