A medical study done by University of North Carolina endocrinologist Joyce Harp and student Lindsay Hecht has found something that may well rank as one of the least surprising findings of the new millenium.
The full story can be found here
In case you don't want to read the article, the study found that (no surprise) 56% of NFL players are obese.
Now, I don't have an MD, but I don't think it takes much of a rocket scientist to realize that many of the guys (especially linemen) we see in the NFL have a gut that would make the most indolent couch potato jealous. I mean, does anybody really expect a 6'5" man who weighs over 300 lbs not to be overweight? Of course, in this modern era, it never hurts to have hard data to back up what common sense suggests. I'm not faulting the people who did the study at all.
The biggest surprise, though, is not the study's results. It's the NFL's reaction. The league claims that the study's findings are wrong because the measure of obesity used by the study (called BMI or body mass index) doesn't take into account muscle to fat ratio. (Basically, they're saying that their players weigh more than normal people, but it's all muscle.)
Well, I don't know about you, but I don't think that the roll hang around some of those linemen's guts is muscle. And besides, what's going to happen to all of this "muscle" when these guys quit playing football? It's going to turn into fat, and they will be obese, with all of the health risks associated with the condition.
That the NFL would deny something of this sort just astounds me.
3 comments:
Oh no Lidsay...the world is just beginning. It's our first non-student blog!!
Second, actually. But I haven't heard from Captain Obvious in some while. Hi, Seidel.
i did a report on obese people..im afraid your calculations are off by 4%
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