It can be healthier to be seventy or more pounds over your medically defined “healthy weight” than just five pounds under it. A 2016 meta-analysis published in The Lancet examined 189 studies, encompassing nearly four million people who never smoked and had no diagnosed medical issues. It found that people labeled “obese” by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have lower health risk than those the CDC categorized as “underweight.” The study also found that being “overweight” according to the CDC is lower risk than being at the low end of the “healthy” range, as defined by the
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