The ‘obesity paradox’ may not be a paradox at all

The dairy fat paradox: Whole dairy products may be healthier than we thought

Obesity Paradox

BACKGROUND Many studies have documented an obesity paradox-a survival advantage of being obese-in populations diagnosed with a medical condition. Whether obesity is causally associated with improved mortality in these conditions is unresolved. METHODS We develop the logic of collider bias as it pertains to the association between smoking and obesity in a diseased population. Data from the Nat...

Obesity paradox

Several studies verify and emphasize the obesity paradox but they do not offer any evident explanation for the paradox. Obesity paradox explanation by pathogenetic action mechanisms of parathyroid hormone-related protein and calcitonin gene-related peptide is evaluated. The vasodilatant action of these peptides has been taken into consideration in decreasing the peripheral arterial vascular ton...

The "Obesity Paradox" Is Not a Paradox: Time to Focus on Effective Treatments.

I recently read the editorial comment by Lavie and Ventura (1) with interest but also with disappointment. My disappointment is because several papers from different authors have illustrated that the reported relationship between obesity and survival from heart failure occurs because all of the observational analyses suffer from a very serious bias if one is exploring causal effects—for 2 examp...

The obesity paradox in the ICU: real or not?

The obesity paradox has been used to describe the observed phenomenon described by several studies that indicated improved survival for critically ill patients with mild to moderate obesity when compared with their lean counterparts. The study by Arabi and coworkers challenges the obesity paradox concept for critically ill obese patients with septic shock. Their data indicate that obesity, per ...