For a society that already places extremely unrealistic and obsessive ideals on body fitness, a recent Harvard study should do nothing but perpetuate stereotypes, myths and unwarranted fear.

The study basically states that the more a woman weighs, the higher her mortality rate will be. But according to the study, the “ideal” weight for women is far below the national average. For instance, a woman who is 5-foot 5-inches tall should weigh no more than 119 pounds to “minimize her death risk,” the study says.

A woman of the same height who weighs 122 pounds has an increased death risk of 20 percent and so on.

The numbers sound frightening, but the study has drawn wide-spread criticism from the start. Health experts are quick to point out that the study fails to consider fat to muscle ratios, body shape or family medical history as mortality factors.

As one nutritional expert at the University of California-Davis made clear: “If your weight was lower body weight, and you had no family history of heart disease, then you might not need to focus so much on the study’s optimum weights.”

Psychologists also noted how much mental pressure the study places on women.

“There’s already tremendous pressure on people to be lean, and this creates even more,” said one psychologist from Yale.

In a sense, those comments encompass the entire problem with the study. The numbers are flashed to the public with no real public interpretation by those who generated them.

They give a half-truth that does nothing but create added fear and pressure that in the long run may have an even more adverse effect on mortality rates than body weight.

Let’s cut ourselves a break for a change.