Fat's life
Wednesday, December 5, 2007 
According to a new study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, it's not how fat but how fit you are that most determines how long you will live. According to the Telegraph, "Scientists have found that elderly people who are physically fit despite being obese suffer half the death rate of lean but unfit people." Story HERE.
Interestingly, our old friend Dr Ken Denson had a similar take on smoking. Until his death in August last year, Ken ran the Thame Thrombosis and Haemostosis Research Foundation in Oxford. In 1999 he concluded that the real problem isn't smoking (in moderation), but the poor diet of smokers. "Smokers," he said, "should be told to improve their diet to protect themselves but the medical establishment has a mental block about smoking. Smokers with the right diet can have an 80 per cent lower risk of cancer than the smoker on a bad diet." Story HERE.
Ken lived to the ripe old age of (I think) 82. He had smoked since he was a teenager. Shortly before his death he emailed me to say:
"I don't even believe that an otherwise healthy smoker loses five years. My non-smoking peers have been dropping like ninepins for the last ten years. Until I started looking at passive smoking ten years ago I also believed that smoking was a killer, but now I realise that much of the fabrication and lies attached to passive smoking can be extended to active smoking. The only strong association is for lung cancer, but there is a strong dose-response relationship. Chain smokers of three packs or more a day haven't a hope, but smokers of ten a day have only a small risk."
Ken believed that if you smoke less than ten cigarettes a day but keep physically fit and enjoy a healthy diet, there is little evidence to suggest you are at serious risk. The bad news (for me) is that I'm fat AND unfit. If I continue as I am I fully expect to be outlived by millions of fit smokers. Fat's life.
Reader Comments (8)
There could be something in this story. It is said that certain fruit and vegetables (ie tomatoes) can help prevent lung cancer.
Half the death rate? The death rate among human beings is 100%. Terms like this encourage, quite deliberately in my view, the totally stupid idea that if you do everything the medical profession claims is good for you then you won't die. Reality check, everyone dies, who wants to be the healthiest person in the graveyard?
Sorry Mr Statistics bore time. The Relative Risk (RR) of eating your 5 a day of fruit and veggies is 0.37. Therefore you are a 3 times less likely to die of cancer and heart disease than occassional rabbits. Also if you run 2 miles, 3 times a week you increase your life expectancy by 8.7 years. I don't do both simultaneoulsy however. Simon, when we met at Boisdales you did not look a day over, er....75 lol.
Yes,Dave, but these statistics are based on the same methodology as the negative and positive ratios spouted about passive smoking. You can't pick and choose which ones you want to believe,for your own convenience.
Epidemiology is used to back up any agenda that needs pushing at a particular time, and that is why it has been so abused,especially by the health fanatics. Be it anti-smoking or running the evidence to support their particular creed WILL be found, nomatter how the numbers are deviously manipulated.
Dear Mr bore, Relative risks and increased life expectancy, pleaaaase. You and I have no idea how long we are going to live. You may terminally irritate someone tomorrow.
I set myself up here, suitably chastised LOL. :)
can you tell me if smoking is allowed in Masonic and Buff Lodges, because they are not public bars, restuarants, work places or members clubs, they are societies that are only open to invited members, will some one out there be able to furnish me with the answer.
My granny is fat & smokes and she will be 88 this year, goes to show that not all fat smokes die young, mind you she is smelly, or is that her pug dog.