In an article the first week of August 2008 in the Archives of Internal Medicine, a study was published that indicated being overweight, and even obese, may not be as dangerous as we are led to believe. Current thinking is if you are overweight or obese, you are on your way to an early cardiovascular death. The facts are quite different. In people who are overweight (this accounts for 72 million Americans), more than one-half have totally normal levels of cholesterol, triglycerides, and blood glucose as well as normal blood pressure. This means that they have no risks factors for heart disease, even though they don’t fit into designers’ clothing. On the other hand, in normal-weight Americans (about 64 million), more than a quarter (or 16 million Americans) have at least two risk factors for future heart disease. And what about obese Americans? About one-third of them (about 20 million Americans) are virtually free of risk factors for heart disease.
So if excess weight is not the overriding cause of heart disease, then what is? The answer is increased silent inflammation. You can’t tell if someone has increased silent inflammation simply by looking at them because only the blood will tell. If you keep silent inflammation under control by the combination of the Zone Diet and high-dose fish oil, you are likely to live to an advanced age regardless of your weight.