Is it always unhealthy to be fat?

Guests: Harriet Brown, Michael Lowe, Rexford Ahima

It’s been two years since the American Medical Association classified obesity as a disease, and by current metrics, two-thirds of Americans qualify as overweight according to the National Institute of Health. Conventional thinking suggests that overweight and obese people could eat better and exercise more to lose weight and be healthier. But, is it always unhealthy to be overweight? And how accurate are the metrics by which we measure proper weight? Some new thinking calls into question the merits of dieting and the health risks of obesity. Today, guest host Mary Cummings-Jordan is joined by professor and journalist HARRIET BROWN, author of Body of Truth: How Science, History, and Culture Drive Our Obsession with Weight–and What We Can Do about It. We are also joined by MICHAEL LOWE, professor of psychology at Drexel University and founder of the Lowe Lab which researches eating and weight regulation. And, we’ll hear from REXFORD AHIMA, director of the obesity unit at University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine.

(AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)