The interesting question might be whether the usual way of signalling health (muscle bulk and low fat-- more bulk for men than women) is as closely connected to actual health (longevity, energy, enjoyment of life, disease resistance, fun, probably more....) as the culture assumes. What’s a optimal pursuit of looking healthy?
The interesting question might be whether the usual way of signalling health (muscle bulk and low fat—more bulk for men than women) is as closely connected to actual health (longevity, energy, enjoyment of life, disease resistance, fun, probably more....) as the culture assumes.
As far as I am aware the ‘low fat’ signal is a cultural idiosyncrasy. All else being equal it’s a signal of somewhat less disease resistance.
So, from the fact that underweight people are less healthy than neither-underweight-nor-overweight people it doesn’t follow that overweight people are also healthier than neither-underweight-nor-overweight people, and hence that there’s no good reason (other than signalling) for people to not want to be overweight, does it? (Or am I misunderstanding what the whole issue is about?)
The interesting question might be whether the usual way of signalling health (muscle bulk and low fat-- more bulk for men than women) is as closely connected to actual health (longevity, energy, enjoyment of life, disease resistance, fun, probably more....) as the culture assumes. What’s a optimal pursuit of looking healthy?
As far as I am aware the ‘low fat’ signal is a cultural idiosyncrasy. All else being equal it’s a signal of somewhat less disease resistance.
Why are people assuming that the relationship between fat and health must be monotonic?
They aren’t. That would be crazy.
So, from the fact that underweight people are less healthy than neither-underweight-nor-overweight people it doesn’t follow that overweight people are also healthier than neither-underweight-nor-overweight people, and hence that there’s no good reason (other than signalling) for people to not want to be overweight, does it? (Or am I misunderstanding what the whole issue is about?)