A few extra pounds may be good for you

Just when a majority of Americans are gearing up to make good on their New Year's resolutions, a new report suggests that fears about extra weight might be overblown. 

The U.S. government report, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, found that people with extra padding may actually have a lower risk of dying than those at an ideal weight, according to Bloomberg. 

That could pose a setback for the $61 billion weight-loss industry, which typically sees its strongest demand in the first few months of the new year, and includes companies such as Weight Watchers and Herbalife (HLF). In a Nutrisystem (NTRI) online survey conducted before the U.S. government findings were released, more than half of Americans said they planned to make resolutions to lose weight. 

The report, from scientists at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, considered 97 studies that involved 2.88 million people across the globe, and divided participants into categories based on body mass index. The lowest risk was among those who are overweight yet not obese, while people just over the threshold of obesity had the next lowest risk. 

One expert in the weight-loss industry cautioned against reading too much into the report. 

"People will find excuses to put off making good decisions," says Bruce Daggy, chief science officer of Nutrisystem, in an interview. "Nobody should look at this report and say, 'I can eat another jelly donut.'"

Daggy calls the report "a bit of a paradox," since higher body weight is tied to a raft of health issues, ranging from diabetes to sleep apnea, and adds that BMI is an imperfect tool.

"You can have a high BMI, but you could be a football linebacker and have not a speck of fat," he notes. 

Overweight people with normal indicators -- such as cholesterol -- might not need to "go on a crash diet," Dr. Steven Heymsfield, executive director of the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Louisiana, told the New York Times. Heymsfield also wrote an editorial accompanying the study.

Daggy's recommendation might not be sweet to some ears. "When people are standing on the scale or looking in the mirror or using a tape measure, you know if you have body fat to lose," he says. "This study shouldn't cause people to become complacent."

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