The price of moral panic

Certain candid obesity researchers will tell you in private, especially if you get a couple of G&Ts into them, that yeah, there really isn’t any increased mortality risk associated with BMI at all until you get into the mid-30s, but still it would be good for people to avoid getting fat because, um, well you know they could get really fat if they “let themselves go,” and what about “quality of life,” and well anyway people want to be thin, so what harm does it do to exaggerate a little (sic)?

Actually, a lot.