Original Article from The New England Journal of Medicine — Health Effects of Overweight and Obesity in 195 Countries over 25 Years

The New England Journal of Medicine

The New England Journal of Medicine (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

What scientists call "Overweight" ch...

What scientists call “Overweight” changes with our knowledge of human health (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

If interested in obesity or being overweight, read the original article from the New England Journal of Medicine — ‘Health Effects of Overweight and Obesity in 195 Countries over 25 Years’

Source: Health Effects of Overweight and Obesity in 195 Countries over 25 Years — NEJM

Simply being overweight, not necessarily obese – is killing millions of people around the world, according to the world’s largest study on the health effects of being overweight or obese in 195 countries.

Although this is a formal research study, it is highly readable, especially the discussion part. I would strongly encourage reading the most important parts.

The study refers to the growing pandemic of obesity but what is really alarming is the impact from just being overweight.

The social and economic costs are enormous, so why aren’t governments intervening more effectively?

 

Chronic marijuana use is about as bad for your health as not flossing, researchers find – The Washington Post

English: Close up shot of some high quality ma...

English: Close up shot of some high quality marijuana. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Washington Post reports a New Zealand study that chronic marijuana use has little effect on your physical health.

Source: Chronic marijuana use is about as bad for your health as not flossing, researchers find – The Washington Post

Personally, I am seriously uncomfortable with this news article and sense that it might be published on a Monday morning when there’s not too much news.

OK we know about the size of the sample and that it’s a longitudinal study but we have no details on the research methodology and the previous publications of the authors.

Also the article does not summarize the comprehensive literature on this field, especially in the US which does find health issues associated with chronic marijuana use. For a summary of the research literature on chronic marijuana use open this link.

There’s a need for extensive further research before it’s safe to conclude on the long term health impact of chronic marijuana use.

Thoughts?