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For the second time this week a medical report was treated as Story of the Day. Monday saw the American Academy of Pediatrics grab headlines on autism. Now the American Institute for Cancer Research has released its compilation of 7,000 different studies from all over the world. Its report came to the conclusion that being fat can kill a person. CBS and ABC both led with the cancer study. NBC chose the economy, as the Federal Reserve Board cut short term interest rates to 4.5%.

CBS' in-house physician Jon LaPook explained why belly fat is especially dangerous: "It can change hormone levels and this can end up damaging cells and triggering cancer." He called the evidence "overwhelming" that the risks of contracting six different forms of cancer increase if one is overweight: tumors in the breast, the colon, the pancreas, the kidney, the uterus and the esophagus. NBC's Robert Bazell cited the statistic that being obese or overweight "leads to"--he did not claim a causal link--20% of all female deaths from cancer, 15% of all male deaths. Cigarette smoking accounts for another 30% of all cancer deaths. So that means that more than half of all cancer deaths have nothing to do with either smoking or being fat.

Not content with concentrating on fat people, the coverage on all three networks continued with an entire menu of ingredients that increase our risk of growing a tumor, even if we happen to be trim. ABC's John McKenzie (subscription required) ticked off red meats like beef, lamb and pork; processed meats like bacon, ham and hot dogs; excessive salt; immoderate alcohol. Instead, McKenzie suggested we take half an hour a day of strenuous physical activity and adopt a diet of fruits, vegetables and whole grains. This lead ABC's in-house doctor to demur: "To do all these things is really quite complicated," Timothy Johnson (no link) observed. "It is very difficult for a single person to do them all." Johnson suggested we should just concentrate on stopping smoking and losing those extra pounds.

As is usual for such medical coverage, the reports on this study lacked statistical perspective. No reporter translated these percentage estimates of increased risk into real numbers. What is the number of dead people who are killed each year by a cancer they contracted because they are overweight? How does that number compare with deaths from other diseases triggered by being overweight? How many overweight people die from causes that have nothing to do with their being fat?

Andrew Tyndall 11/1/07 10:38:51 pm

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