December 24, 2022 — For some of us, gaining weight (especially at this time of year) is a metabolic curse. But there are individuals for whom gaining weight is a metabolic gift and, in fact, essential for surviving in good health. In this case, we are thinking about grizzly bears. These animals gain tremendous amounts of weight every year […]
June 14, 2021 — The pursuit of healthy obesity is something of a holy quest or a shell game. The game goes on with some players insisting that obesity is not real. Picking through troves of data they find exceptions to the links between a high BMI and disease risks. “Ah ha! These subjects have no health issues, just […]
April 6, 2018 — So much energy goes into amping up the “crisis” of obesity that an equal and opposite reaction is natural. Surely, can’t a person be fat and fit? Aren’t there certain situation where a bit of extra adiposity can actually help a person’s health? But a series of recent papers challenges two concepts of harmless obesity […]
July 28, 2014 — Healthy obesity is the subject of yet another pair of new publications, this time in Obesity Reviews. So far, in this year alone, you can find 160 scholarly publications on the specific subject of “healthy obesity.” Rey-López and colleagues completed a systematic review of the prevalence of metabolically healthy obesity. They found prevalence estimates ranging from […]
