The Nation - News from Jan. 16, 1987

Standard “desirable” weight charts are too high because the studies they are based on systematically underestimate the negative impact of obesity on health, researchers said. Consequently, doctors from the Harvard School of Public Health, writing in the Journal of the American Medical Assn., concluded that the majority of Americans are too fat, with average weight at least 10% over the ideal. Obesity is medically defined as 20% over optimal body weight.