Incredibly and tragically, this article has been removed from the website for legal reasons, to minimize the risk of offending some of my thin-skinned colleagues and readers. Some of them believe that critical thinking about practices in health care — asking reasonable questions like “Does it really work?” and “How do we know?” — is actually insulting and unprofessional.
For instance, the word “quackery” has become an emotionally charged and politically incorrect word, despite the fact that it refers to something that truly exists and needs to be discussed. There is fraud in the world! It’s a sad but clear fact.
This article originally presented many strong criticisms of health professions — including physicians, by the way, who have many faults as well. It was supported by numerous references to expert opinion and scientific research published in major medical journals. It attracted an astonishing amount of hate mail, and legal threats, and was simply too controversial to continue safely publishing. I think it’s all a crying shame, and probably a sign of the End Times.
Being overweight may not be as unhealthy as it was 40 years ago," BBC News reports. New research has found a body mass index (BMI) of 27 is linked to the lowest rate of death – but someone with a BMI of 27 is currently classed as being overweight. BMI is a score calculated by dividing your weight (usually in kilograms) by the square of your height (usually in metres and centimetres). Currently, a BMI of 25 to 29.9 is classified as being overweight. Researchers looked at 120,528 people from Copenhagen, recruited from 1976 to 2013, and separately compared those recruited during the 1970s, 1990s and 2000s. They were followed up until they died, emigrated, or the study finished. The BMI linked to the lowest risk of having died from any cause was 23.7 in the 1970s group, 24.6 in the 1990s group, and had further risen to 27 in the 2003-13 group. It may be the case that the suggested upward shift in optimal BMI is the result of improvements in preventative treatments for weight-rela...