... caused by obesity. Among them were the papers by Allison et al. (1999a; 1999b) and Flegal et al. (2004a; 2004b; 2005). In 2004, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) released a report using Allison's "partially adjusted" method and estimated that 400,000 deaths per year were caused by obesity in the United States. They claimed that obesity would soon overtake tobacco as the number one cause of preventable death in the country (Gerberding, 2004, as cited in Longley, 2006). In the same year, Flegal et al. (2004a) reported flaws in Allison's method and hence an overestimate in the 400,000 figure. They found only 112,000 obesity-related death in the United States in 2000 in contrast to the 365,000 figure published by CDC in the same year. This soon led to debate over the correct method of the estimation. The aim of this paper is to critically review and discuss different methods used ...

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