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State of Georgia claims obesity is NOT a health risk???
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OMG, I can't believe what I am reading.
I am helping someone determine if Medicaid in Georgia will cover banding. On the Georgia Medicaid website, check out this load of crap I just found:
gacfr.dhr.georgia.gov/DHR-GACFR/DHR-GACFR_PreventionResources/5myths.pdf
<nobr>5 H</nobr> <nobr>EALTH</nobr> <nobr>C</nobr> <nobr>ARE</nobr> <nobr>M</nobr> <nobr>YTHS</nobr> <nobr>Frances M. Berg, </nobr> <nobr>M.S., L.N.
</nobr><nobr>Unfortunately, much current health care for obesity is based on misinformation, myth and size bias, not</nobr> <nobr>on accurate scientific information. Consider these myths and controversies:
</nobr><nobr>Myth #1. Obesity causes severe health risks. Fact: We don't know, but it seems doubtful. Obesity has</nobr> <nobr>been associated with, and assumed to cause, higher risk for type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and</nobr> <nobr>cardiovascular disease. More recent CDC research questions even the association. The evidence suggests</nobr> <nobr>these disease risks, as well as obesity, are likely caused by other factors, including genetics and</nobr> <nobr>inactivity. Increased physical activity dramatically reduces risk factors without weight loss. </nobr> <nobr>1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
</nobr><nobr>Myth #2. âHealthy weightâ defines the range of lowest health risk. False. The weight associated with</nobr> <nobr>the lowest death rate is in the âoverweightâ range (BMI 25 to 29.9), with almost no related risk up to a</nobr> <nobr>BMI of 35, according to the latest CDC research. This confirms an earlier NIH review of 236 controlled</nobr> <nobr>studies with similar findings. (Despite this evidence, federal agencies continue to define healthy weight,</nobr> <nobr>or normal weight, as a BMI of 18.5 to 24.9, and to recommend weight loss above this level.) </nobr> <nobr>8, 9, 10
</nobr><nobr>Myth #3. Health is always improved by weight loss. False. Long-term studies indicate higher risk with</nobr> <nobr>weight loss. At least 15 large comprehensive studies show higher death rates after weight loss, including</nobr> <nobr>the Framingham Heart Study, Harvard Alumni Study, and NHANES I follow-up. Researchers suggest</nobr> <nobr>that loss of lean mass from muscle, organs and bone, and weight cycling can jeopardize health.</nobr> <nobr>11, 12, 13, 14, 15
</nobr><nobr>Myth #4. Current weight loss treatments are safe and effective. False. All methods must be considered</nobr> <nobr>experimental. None are proven long-term safe and effective. Dieting causes short-term weight loss</nobr> <nobr>followed by regain or weight cycling, which has its own risks, and leads to food preoccupation, bingeing,</nobr> <nobr>dysfunctional eating and sometimes eating disorders. Drugs offer only minimal weight loss (5-11</nobr> <nobr>pounds) and must be taken long-term, with increasing risk: of 6 million adults who took fen-phen/Redux,</nobr> <nobr>FDA reports one-third developed leaky heart valves; others died of primary pulmonary disease. Bariatric</nobr> <nobr>surgery carries risk of nearly 5 percent death rate (nearly 50 percent for patients age 75 and over) and</nobr> <nobr>over 60 complications including severe infection, leaks, blood clots and malnutrition.</nobr> <nobr>16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22
</nobr><nobr>Myth #5. Scare tactics and pressures to be thin help prevent obesity, promote weight loss, and do no</nobr> <nobr>harm. False. Increasing the social and medical pressures to be thin over the last two decades has not</nobr> <nobr>worked and may have backfired: studies link repeated weight loss to increased weight. These pressures</nobr> <nobr>have failed to help people lose weight or prevent obesity. In addition, they have done harm by leading to</nobr> <nobr>nutrient deficiencies, dangerous weight loss, eating disorders, size discrimination, body hatred, stress,</nobr> <nobr>anxiety, immune suppression, lasting injury and even death.</nobr> <nobr>23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29
</nobr><nobr>These five myths benefit the diet industry, but not the individual or society. The fiction they keep alive is</nobr> <nobr>that overweight and obesity are severe health risks that threaten the lives of most Americans and add greatly</nobr> <nobr>to health care costs; therefore weight loss is urgently needed, even though it is not safe or effective.</nobr> <nobr>Reprinted and adapted from Underage and Overweight: Our Childhood Obesity Crisis â What Every Family Needs to</nobr> <nobr>Know, by Frances M. Berg. New York: Hatherleigh Press. Copyright 2005, 2004 by Frances M. Berg. All rights reserved.</nobr> <nobr>The author permits use of this 5 Health Care Myths feature as a handout or in nonprofit newsletters for educational</nobr> <nobr>purposes, provided it is reproduced in its entirety with this citation. Written permission is required for use in books or</nobr> <nobr>publications for sale. Contact Healthy Weight Network, 402 S. 14</nobr> <nobr>th</nobr> <nobr>St., Hettinger, ND 58639 (701-567-2646; fax 701-</nobr> <nobr>567-2602). For more information visit www.healthyweight.net.</nobr> <nobr>(over)</nobr> <hr><table border="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td align="right" bgcolor="#eeeeee">Page 2</td></tr></tbody></table> <nobr>Increasingly, however, health providers are moving ahead to the Health at Every Size approach (also known</nobr> <nobr>as Health at Any Size). This new paradigm focuses on active living, normal eating, self-acceptance, and</nobr> <nobr>physical, emotional and spiritual well-being for everyone of every size.</nobr> <nobr>References</nobr> <nobr>1.
</nobr><nobr>Taylor R. Causation of Type 2 diabetes â The Gordian knot unravels. N Engl J Med 2004;350:639-641.</nobr> <nobr>2. Miller W. Health promotion strategies for obese patients. Healthy Weight Journal 1997:11:3:47-51.</nobr> <nobr>3. Blair SN, Kohl HW, Barlow CE. Physical activity, physical fitness, and allcause mortality in women: do women need</nobr> <nobr>to be active? J Am Coll Nutr 1993;12(4):368371.</nobr> <nobr>4. Barlow CE, Kohl HW III, Gibbens LW, Blair SN. Physical fitness, mortality and obesity. Int J Obesity 1995;1 (Suppl</nobr> <nobr>4):S41-44. Miller W. Health promotion strategies for obese patients. Healthy Weight J 1997:11:3:47-51.</nobr> <nobr>5. Blair SN, Bodney S. Effects of physical inactivity and obesity on morbidity and mortality: Current evidence and</nobr> <nobr>research issues. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise 1999;31:S646-S662</nobr> <nobr>6. Flegal KM, Graubard BI, Williamson DF, Gail MH. Excess deaths associated with underweight, overweight, and</nobr> <nobr>obesity. JAMA 2005;293:1861-1867.</nobr> <nobr>7. Berg F. Underage and Overweight: Our Childhood Obesity Crisis â What Every Family Needs to Know, 2005, 2004,</nobr> <nobr>p13-29. New York: Hatherleigh Press.</nobr> <nobr>8. Flegal KM. JAMA 2005;293:1861-1867.</nobr> <nobr>9. NIH-NHLBI Clinical Guidelines on Identification, Evaluation, and Treatment of Overweight and Obesity. National</nobr> <nobr>Institutes of Health, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Pre-print June 1998. Bethesda, MD.</nobr> <nobr>10. Berg F. Underage and Overweight, p147-151.</nobr> <nobr>11. NIH Technology assessment conference: Methods for voluntary weight loss and control. Conference report:</nobr> <nobr>program and abstracts. March 30-April 1, 1992. Office Medical Research, Bethesda, MD 20892.</nobr> <nobr>12. Andres R, Muller DC, Sorkin JD. Long-term effects of change in body weight on all-cause mortality: a review. Ann</nobr> <nobr>Intern Med 1993;119:737-743.</nobr> <nobr>13. Williamson DF, Pamuk E, Thun M, et al. Prospective study of intentional weight loss and mortality in never-</nobr> <nobr>smoking overweight US white women aged 40-64 years. Am J Epidemiol 1995;141:1128-1141.</nobr> <nobr>14. Allison DB, Zannolli R, Faith MS, et al. Weight loss increases and fat loss decreases all-cause mortality rate: results</nobr> <nobr>from two independent cohort studies. I J Obesity 1999;23:603-611.</nobr> <nobr>15. Berg F. Underage and Overweight, p13-29, 156-194.</nobr> <nobr>16. NIH Technology assessment conference: Methods for voluntary weight loss and control. March 30-April 1, 1992.</nobr> <nobr>17. Lee IM, Paffenbarger RS Jr. Is weight loss hazardous? Nutr Rev 1996;54(suppl):S116-124.</nobr> <nobr>18. Kassirer JP, Angell M. Losing weight: An illfated New Yearâs resolution. N Engl J Med 1998;338:5254.</nobr> <nobr>19. Garner DM, and Wooley SC. Confronting the failure of behavioral and dietary treatments for obesity. Clin Psych</nobr> <nobr>Rev 1991;11:729-780.</nobr> <nobr>20. Lissner L, Odell P, DâAgostino D, and Stoke J, et al. Variability of body weight and health outcomes in the</nobr> <nobr>Framingham population. New Engl J Med 1991;324:1839-44.</nobr> <nobr>21. Flum DR, Salem L, et al. Early Mortality Among Medicare Beneficiaries Undergoing Bariatric Surgical Procedures</nobr> <nobr>JAMA 2005;294:1903-1908.</nobr> <nobr>22. Berg F. Underage and Overweight, p156-194.</nobr> <nobr>23. Third report on nutrition monitoring in the US, Vol 1-2, Dec 1995. Life Sciences Research Office, US Health/</nobr> <nobr>Human Serv, US Dept of Agriculture. Natl Ctr for Health Statistics, NHANES III. Advance Data Nov 14, 1994.</nobr> <nobr>24. Levine P. Presidentâs message. Eating Disorders Awareness and Prevention Newsletter. Spring 1995:1-3.</nobr> <nobr>25. Pipher M. Reviving Ophelia. 1994. Ballantine Books, Random House, NY.</nobr> <nobr>26. Fallon P, M Katzman, S Wooley, edits. Feminist perspectives on eating disorders. 1994. Guilford Press, NY.</nobr> <nobr>27. Grange D, J Tibbs, J Selibowitz. Eating attitudes, body shape, and self-disclosure in adolescent girls and boys.</nobr> <nobr>Eating Dis 1995:3:3:253-264.</nobr> <nobr>28. Smolak L, M Levine. Toward an empirical basis for primary prevention of eating problems with elementary school</nobr> <nobr>children. Eat Disorders 1994;2:4:293-307.</nobr> <nobr>29. Berg F. Underage and Overweight, p76-94, 195-205.</nobr> <nobr>5 Health Care Myths</nobr> <nobr>(continued)</nobr> <nobr>1-atetalkshandouts5myths</nobr>