On Second Thought, A Few Extra Pounds May Be Good For You

In a finding that contradicts just about everything we’ve been told about the health hazards of being overweight, researchers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have found that people with a few extra pounds are less likely to die in any given period than people of normal weight. Wait, it gets better: even moderately obese people don’t have a higher-than-normal risk of dying. What’s up with that? The Wall Street Journal reports that the researchers, who analyzed 97 studies involving nearly three million people and 270,000 deaths around the world, did find that seriously obese people, those with a BMI of 35 or higher, have a 29 percent greater risk of dying. But the pleasantly plump, those with a BMI of 25 to 30, have a 6 percent lower risk of death than people whose BMI is in the normal range of 18.5 to 25. Remember those New Year’s resolutions? Forget them.