Stop the insanity - Is obesity really an "epidemic"?

An article in Scientific American, entitled Obesity: An Overblown Epidemic? cites a "growing number of dissenting researchers accuse government and medical authorities--as well as the media--of misleading the public about the health consequences of rising body weights." Seems that there may NOT be as iron-clad connection between obesity and illnesses such as diabetes and hypertension. Maybe our pudginess is not as damaging as we've been taught to believe.

Have we been dieting, exercising, undergoing possibly dangerous surgeries for nothing?

In a related article, Dr. Arthur Frank and Dr. Domenica Rubino have decided that people need an implanted pacemaker-like device that tells people they're full.
Not certain how it works, the docs think the stimulation expands the stomach a bit and the patient gets the feeling of being full. Drs Frank and Rubino think that may help people lose upt to 10 percent of their body fat

And of course, it ain't cheap: the procedure will cost about $15,000, and the batteries need to be replaced about every five years.

Okay, enough already!