UC scientist OK with overweight surgeon general-designate

Retired UC Berkeley nutrition specialist Joanne Ikeda didn't mince words when she commented about the woman President Obama has nominated to be the nation's surgeon general. The nominee, Dr. Regina Benjamin, is a McArthur genius grant recipient, holds advanced degrees in medicine and business administration, and runs her own family practice medical clinic in rural Alabama that treats predominantly low income patients.

But by all accounts, she is overweight.

"I thank God that Dr. Regina Benjamin is a fat woman," Ikeda was quoted in The Daily Voice, Black America's daily news source. "Maybe now we will stop making the assumption that all fat people are unhealthy particularly in light of new data coming from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey."

The comment was picked up by Huffington Post columnist Linda Bergthold.

According to media reports, the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey has data that show more than half of people labeled overweight are metabolically healthy, compared to about a quarter who are what the survey calls “metabolically abnormal.”

The study points out that examination of metabolic health — blood pressure, cholesterol, sugar levels — are better predictors for future health problems.

A White House photo of Dr. Regina Benjamin.

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