Many studies fail to consider confounding variables, which are extremely difficult to assess and control for in this type of study. For example, mortality among obese people may be misleadingly high because overweight people are more likely to be sedentary and of low socioeconomic status. Thus, although some claim that every year 300,000 deaths in the United States are caused by obesity, that figure is by no means well established. Not only is it derived from weak or incomplete data, but it is also called into question by the methodologic difficulties of determining which of many factors contribute to premature death. The answer is bureaucratic entropy coupled with the desire of some to control our behavior.
Government agencies tend to expand in terms of mission, budget and authority.
But public health professionals have been largely successful in eliminating the traditional and most significant threats to public health in the U.S., chiefly infectious disease. In search of a ongoing raison d etre, public health bureaucrats have taken on an activist mantle, medicalizing unpopular or politically incorrect behavior such as overeating, eating the wrong foods, smoking, alcohol consumption, not exercising and even gun ownership. The CDC s survey that produced the obesity data is called the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. Your behavior is being watched by bureaucrats that don t approve. Some in the public health community are even concerned that the federal government s nanny-ism will backfire.