Contact information:
Allen Steadham, Director ISAA
Phone: (512) 371-4307
E-mail: Director@size-acceptance.org
WWW: http://www.size-acceptance.org

Date: October 9, 2002

ISAA Agrees With JAMA Position On Obesity:
Current Weight Loss Methods Are Not Working

The International Size Acceptance Association (ISAA) agrees with doctors from the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) that current weight loss methods are not working and could be leading to needless deaths and fatter, less fit Americans.

Referencing the 1991 Framington Heart Study, ISAA claims that virtually all of the "excess" cardiovascular disease mortality in obese men and women could be explained by lifetime weight fluctuation from yo-yo dieting. By contrast, a 1995 Cooper Institute Study of 45,000 men showed that fat yet fit men outlived thin yet unfit men.

In addition, ISAA does not believe that obesity kills 300,000 people per year. Citing Drs. McGinnis and Foege and their article "Actual Causes of Death in the United States" from the November 10, 1993 issue of the JAMA, ISAA claims that "diet/activity patterns" cause 300,000 deaths per year, not obesity.

In a 1998 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), Drs. McGinnis and Foege clarified "The (300,000) figure applies broadly to the combined effects of various dietary factors and activity patterns that are too sedentary, not to the narrower effect of obesity alone."

ISAA does not claim to have programs that make people physically thin but ISAA does have approaches that improve the physical and psychological health of plus-sized individuals. ISAA's approaches involve improving self-esteem, encouraging fitness for all sizes, healthy body imagery and healthy food choices.

ISAA will be promoting and demonstrating these approaches at its first annual convention in Austin, Texas in April 2003.

ISAA's mission is to promote size acceptance and to help end size discrimination throughout the world by means of advocacy and visible, lawful methods. ISAA has chapters across the United States and branches in Canada, Brazil, the United Kingdom, France, the Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand and the Middle East.