Study finds obesity rampant in NFL
Is players' growing girth a concern? The pro football league says the data is substandard.
By Nanci Hellmich / USA TODAY
A controversial study using a standard measure of excess weight concludes that more than half of the National Football League's players are obese.
But some fitness and medical experts disagree with the use of body mass index to assess whether these muscular athletes are too fat.
The study of 2,168 NFL players ages 21-44 by researchers at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill points out what may seem obvious to the casual observer: Many NFL players appear to be too heavy.
It builds on earlier research that describes players, particularly linemen, as being vulnerable to sleep apnea, a disorder that causes people to stop breathing while sleeping. Excess weight is a major contributor to sleep apnea, seen as a possible factor in last year's death of football great Reggie White, who played at weights topping 290 pounds. Obesity also increases the risk of developing heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes.
Researchers analyzed height and weight data to calculate BMI. The study in today's Journal of American Medical Association found:
• 56 percent of players qualify as obese, roughly 30 or more pounds over a healthy weight. That's more than double the percentage for typical men in the same age group.
• About 26 percent of football players qualify as severely obese, and 3 percent are morbidly obese.
• Guards had the highest BMIs; defensive backs had the lowest BMIs.
"You can look at some of these players and see they are not all muscle. There is excess fat there," said lead researcher Joyce Harp, an endocrinologist and associate professor of nutrition and medicine.
But the NFL discounts the study. "We do not comment on medical research that we consider substandard," said NFL spokesman Greg Aiello. "This is not a serious medical study."
He says the league has appointed a medical panel to study players' cardiovascular health. "It's a part of an ongoing priority to protect the health and safety of our players."
Fitness researcher Steven Blair, president of the Cooper Institute in Dallas, said BMI alone isn't a valid measure when applied to these athletes. "These guys are muscular. They weigh a lot, and they have high BMIs, but we cannot conclude that this is the same as obesity."
The National Institutes of Health says muscular people may have a BMI placing them in an overweight category when they are not fat.
Still, some NFL players are overly fat, especially the offensive and defensive lineman, said Mackie Shilstone, director of health and fitness for the Ochsner Clinic Foundation in New Orleans. He has helped evaluate the physical condition of more than 300 NFL players.
Players' union spokesman Carl Francis said health and safety are "discussed all the time," and that while some players likely are obese, it's not a major problem.
Associated Press contributed to this report.
NFL FAT ASSES? Maybe or Maybe not...
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