Life Insurance and Overweight

Abstract

Two items were selected for this month's Classics in Obesity. The first is an extract from the Report of the Joint Committee on the Medico Actuarial Mortality Investigation published in 1913 (1). The second is an extract from DeLamar Lectures by Louis Dublin from 1927 (3). It is selected because Dublin and the insurance industry played a major role in the focus on the increased risk of death among the overweight. In his lecture in 1926 Dublin says, “The conviction that body build affects longevity has been general for a long time.” But when was this concept first identified and how long did it take to impact research in obesity? The idea was clearly enunciated in the material published by the Association of Life Insurance Medical Directors and the Actuarial Society of America in 1913 that increased mortality was associated with increased deviations in body weight. I have plotted the 1913 data below (Figure 1). The increase in mortality with increasing upward deviation is readily apparent. But there is little evident impact of deviations below average. 1995 North American Association for the Study of Obesity (NAASO)