In response to the overwhelming miscalculations of the CDC and the JAMA, that after a decade of gathering statistics — over 400,000 deaths were from diet and sedentary lifestyle. The revised figure is now 112,000. Not quite as many as first published.

Here is the original findings of the CDC/JAMA published in 2002:

“Actual Causes of Death in the United States, 2000,” by Ali H. Mokdad, Ph.D; James S. Marks, MD, MPH; Donna F. Stroup, PhD, MSc; Julie L. Gerberding, MD, MPH. Published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), Vol. 291, No. 10, March 10, 2004.

Using mortality data reported to the CDC the authors of this article linked the following risk behaviors and mortality. The study was based on epidemiological, clinical, and laboratory studies. You will note, as stated above, it is poor diet and physical inactivity - NOT obesity - listed as the cause of (now) 112,000 deaths a year, making the CDC chart below inaccurate in a big way.

Tobacco - 435,000 deaths (18.1 % of total US deaths)
Poor diet and physical inactivity - 400,000 deaths (16.6 %)
Alcohol consumption - 85,000 deaths (3.5 %)
Microbial agents - 75,000
Toxic agents - 55,000
Motor vehicle crashes - 43,000
Firearms - 29,000
Sexual behaviors - 20,000
Illicit drug use - 17,000

The truth finally comes out. You can read the information above to hear the background of what I’m about to tell you here. What it comes down to is this: As of April, 2005, the Centers for Disease Control has had to retract their “400,000 deaths a year attributed to poor diet and inactivity” figure to 112,000. Seems there was a miscalculation made somewhere along the line.

After over a decade of the diet industry touting their unreliable, ineffective programs and products as the answer to saving fat people from a certain untimely death, they are going to have to move to another scare tactic. (Well, actually, they won’t. You will continue to hear the same figure dropped into commercials and discussions with the assumption that you will not have heard the retraction and revised figure.)

Oh, and here’s a surprise that hadn’t been mentioned before. Turns out folks who are overweight but not in the “obese” category have a lower risk of death than folks in the “normal” weight range.

This brings us back to the reality that eating poorly and being inactive - traits common to fat, normal, and thin people alike - are serious problems. In fact, these risk factors come in right around the same level as that associated with alcohol consumption (85,000 deaths). And, again, obesity was never listed as a cause of death in either study that originally claimed 300,000 and 400,000 deaths.

It’s all about lifestyle, not weight. People of all sizes must work on increasing their activity levels to a reasonable amount. People of all sizes need to eat a healthy diet.

See the April 2005 issues of Journal of the American Medical Association for further information.

Also, you might be interested in this letter to the CDC from the Center for Consumer Freedom for further information: Letter