There is still so much that even the most erudite of experts do not understand about the inner workings of the human body.
The fact that the same set of circumstances tend to impact one person so differently from another, and that what should be an obvious and logical conclusion is often rendered redundant is what can trouble experts.
The Obesity Paradox is one such conundrum that we don’t understand about the human body and its intricate systems.
The Obesity Paradox or Reverse epidemiology as it is also termed is a medical hypothesis which holds that obesity and high cholesterol may, contrary to what is commonly understood, be protective and associated with greater survival in certain groups of people, such as very elderly individuals or those with certain chronic diseases.
According to this, it is postulated that normal to low body mass index or normal values of cholesterol may be detrimental and associated with higher mortality in people with no symptoms.
The obesity paradox shows that people who have chronic disease and are obese as well, have a higher chance of survival than do others. This goes against everything that we have been told about high cholesterol and being overweight are bad for us and our health and leading to premature death.
So in fact the very thing that is understood to be the major risk factor in developing cardiovascular diseases includes hypertension, chronic renal failure and coronary heart disease, that is obesity is seen to be actually protective and is associated with better survival rates.
While the findings based on the Obesity Paradox could well impact the way that doctors and medical practitioners offer treatment, it is unlikely that obese people are going to be advised to go off their diets any time soon.
Critics of the Obesity Paradox pooh-pooh these findings as being contrary to what we understand about the workings of the body and also that the studies conducted are not significant enough to be representative of populations at large.
Also it was found that the Obesity Paradox does not apply to the very obese among us; for them, the risk of dying from heart disease again rises.
The obesity paradox is also explained away by some experts as simply being the evidence of better nutrition and nourishment which results in better health and immunity rather than any round about connection between obesity resulting in better survival rates.
