A Long-range health study in Framingham, Massachusetts, which began in 1948 and continues to this day, involves checking the survivors among the same 5,200 men and women every two years and carefully determining the causes of any deaths occurring in the group. A rather surprising conclusion that emerged in 1980 was that the lightest men had the shortest life expectancy, while the only others for whom weight seemed to have a significant negative effect on life expectancy were those who weighed more than 25% above the nation average. Much the same was true of women, with those in the lightest and heaviest groups dying earliest. These results certainly cast considerable doubts on the validity of the “Ideal Weights” table in use since he forties which recommend weight to height nation well below the national average. Indeed, they suggest that if any such ideal exists, its is slightly above the average, whatever fashion may dictate.