Bigger is better

More news today that being big will not kill you. Indeed, according to this New York Times article, overweight people "have a lower death rate." I don't really understand how this is possible, since there is a 100% death rate for everyone, but I'll have to read the actual study to figure it out -- the mainstream media have a hard time explaining science accurately. The article describes the results of the study, which may be the same study I wrote up yesterday:

Linking, for the first time, causes of death to specific weights, they report that overweight people have a lower death rate because they are much less likely to die from a grab bag of diseases that includes Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, infections and lung disease. And that lower risk is not counteracted by increased risks of dying from any other disease, including cancer, diabetes or heart disease. As a consequence, the group from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Cancer Institute reports, there were more than 100,000 fewer deaths among the overweight in 2004, the most recent year for which data were available, than would have expected if those people had been of normal weight.

Saletan disagrees, naturally, but we all knew that hater would hate. So, big fellas are hecka healthy after all. My buddy Tim Finnigan says that it's bullshit, but I think I'll outlive him by a long shot. I only hope that little red-headed brother of his survives him.