Article Source: msnbc.com
from:msnbc.comUnderweight people at higher post-surgery risk
Seeded on Mon Nov 21, 2011 4:11 PM EST (msnbc.com)
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Great. I have something to use when I see the doctor next week. I'll tell me I'm just working up to my next surgery when we asks me why I haven't lost weight.
"They classified patients into five groups or quintiles: people with a BMI of less than 23.1...We found patients in the lowest quintile had a 40 percent higher odds of death" Umm, but the headline says "underweight" people are the ones at risk, underweight being defined as having a BMI of under 18.5. But according to that quote, the study didn't even break it down that far: they grouped everyone with BMIs of under 23.1 together (which includes normal weight people as well as underweight people).
It's always funny when journalists try to write about science.
I need more info. What were the controls other than BMI? Many surgeries are done on older people. Of course a skinny older person is more vulnerable after surgery. Why did the people have a low BMI? Was that caused by the underlying illness that required surgery?
Too much general information from which one cannot draw reasonable conclusions.
When patients that have feeding tubes undergo major surgery, the caloric content of the nutritional supplement is increased drastically. Protein is also increased. This is simply because your body expends calories trying to knit itself back together.
In general, someone who weighs 100lbs will eat less total calories per day to maintain that weight than someone who weighs 200lbs.
It could simply be that people who are underweight are just not eating enough calories to heal themselves, even if their previous diet was sufficient to maintain weight.
And next month another study will be released saying the opposite of this one, contradictory studies get released all the time and in the end you realize they dont know what they are talking about.
It's just another excuse for those doctors that haven't got a clue and are looking for excuses to try to explain their lack of diagnoses or complications from a procedure gone wrong. As I always remark, this is not meant to denigrate those health care professionals that are aware and care.
Considering the majority of people in the US have at least an overweight BMI the problem in this article affects few.
Surgery reduces vitamin D needed to survive.
Vitamin D may become available after surgery from fat-stores of overweight patients, details and references at:
I didn't realize underweight people still exist.
Who do you think mocks all the fat people?
Everybody.
Wow, the truth comes out - weight can have a protective effect on health! But hold on, let's make sure we have that disclaimer at the end - fat is still BAD, BAD, BAD, except post surgery when apparently it can keep you from dying. And let's not forget those trumped up statistics designed to foster hatred for fat people - that $147 billion in health care costs wouldn't be going into the POCKETS of medical professionals if it wasn't for fat people, right? I wonder how many docs would be out of work if people suddenly stopped being fat.
This is news????! Absolutely, being a little overweight is beneficial if you end up in the hospital.... a family member who was ~40 pounds overweight, spent a long time in the hospital (not due to his being overweight!) where he lost 70+ pounds...became severely underweight, lost massive amounts of muscle, so in such cases, it was a good thing he was overweight for survival. I shudder to think what would have happened if he was of normal weight.
I'm not advocating being fat of course, I'm just saying, there are special, rare circumstances where it is in fact a good thing!