The “obesity crisis” became a hot topic just over a decade ago when the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) published data showing that American weights were increasing. All sort of interest groups jumped on this crisis, including urban planners who blamed obesity on urban sprawl and driving.
If obesity has a cause, it is more likely due to the increased availability of low-cost sweeteners such as high-fructose corn syrup than to sprawl. For one thing, obesity appears to be increasing throughout the developed world, including in European nations that supposedly have controlled sprawl.
In commenting on this supposed problem more than a decade ago, the Antiplanner was skeptical that obesity was even a crisis. “More than one recent study has found that weight is less important to health as you get older,” I noted. “People over 50 can have BMIs [body mass indices] as high as 32 and not suffer any greater mortality than people with BMIs under 25. Researchers add that, unless such people have heart disease, diabetes, or some other obesity-related disease, asking them to diet “might unjustifiably decrease their perceived quality of life.”
It turns out this isn’t just true for people over 50. As yesterday’s Wall Street Journal noted (see also an article in the Independent), a new CDC study indicates that people who are somewhat overweight (BMIs of 25 to 30) can actually expect to live longer than people of “normal” weight (BMIs of 18 to 25).
