April 25, 2005
David Brooks
The (deservedly) much maligned NYTimes really does deserve props. A) C'mon, face it, it is an amazing newspaper. I wish they were fair, too. But it defines the news for the entire country and employs (face it again) the best writers. B) David Brooks was a great pick for token Conservative. He is a Conservative that doesn't frighten the NYTimes reader and that's good -- a little right-of-center thought for these folks is better than none.
Today he has a hilarious column on the CDC's "re-calibrating" obesity statistics.
The release of a report in The Journal of the American Medical Association indicating that overweight people actually live longer than normal-weight people represents an important moment in the history of world civilization. It is the moment when we realize that Mother Nature - unlike Ivy League admissions committees - doesn't like suck-ups.
[...]
If the report from researchers at the National Cancer Institute and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is correct - and it is the most thorough done to date - then it seems that Mother Nature has built a little Laffer curve into the fabric of reality: health-conscious people can hit a point of negative returns, so the more fit they are, the quicker they kick the bucket. People who work out, eat responsibly and deserve to live are more likely to be culled by the Thin Reaper.
The whole piece is funny and smart. But I think the lede is correct. It is important. They were off by a factor of 14 and their basic premise was completely wrong. That will be remembered, and the expert's advice will be further discounted in the future.
Media and Blogging Posted by jk at April 25, 2005 12:34 PM
Woo Hoo, donuts on me! With all the medical evidence of the power of genetics you would think the fitness folks would get a clue that was is good for one person may not work so well for another. By the way, if you are a fitness guru I am betting that your genetic makeup allowed you to have that body and that without it you could starve and crunch yourself to eternity and never get abs of steel. At least I feel there has to be some good from genetics, I have enough trouble remembering my own medical history without also that of my parents and siblings, not to mention those oh so comfortable phone conversations like hey big bro, how did that colonoscopy go, because it affects how soon I need one. My secret belief is still that they will discover that cancer is genetic in rats and it will throw out 30 years of research.
Posted by: Silence Dogood at April 25, 2005 6:28 PM | What do you think? [1]