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  • Letter to the Editor
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Is it possible to determine a ‘powerful marker of health’?

International Journal of Obesity volume 32, page 1445 (2008)Cite this article

I wish to share some considerations about the recently published article by Ortega et al.1 To begin, it may be paramount to debate the concept of health. It is clear that the authors understand health as the absence of illnesses or normality. However, as emphasized by Canguilhem,2 the threshold between normal and pathological conditions is imprecise. The norm, according to him, cannot represent health. Pathological condition, for example, is a type of normality, considering that it occurs frequently and, in contrast, a condition that escapes the norm does not characterize pathology.

It is also necessary to consider that health is a multifaceted phenomenon, possibly influenced by several aspects, such as income, education, nutrition, habitation, and to ignore this configuration may be a mistake.

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References

  1. Ortega FB, Ruiz JR, Castillo MJ, Sjöström M . Physical fitness in childhood and adolescence: a powerful marker of health. Int J Obes 2008; 32: 1–11.

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  2. Canguilhem G . The Normal and the Pathological. Zone Books: New York, 1998.

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  3. Myers J, Prakash M, Froelicher V, Do D, Partington S, Atwood E . Exercise capacity and mortality among men referred for exercise testing. N Engl J Med 2002; 346: 793–801.

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  5. Powers SK, Howley ET . Exercise Physiology: Theory and Application to Fitness and Performance. McGraw-Hill: New York, 1997.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Escola de Educação Física e Desportos, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rua José Veríssimo, Méier, Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

    A Palma & M Assis

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  1. A Palma
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  2. M Assis
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Correspondence to A Palma.

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Palma, A., Assis, M. Is it possible to determine a ‘powerful marker of health’?. Int J Obes 32, 1445 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/ijo.2008.112

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