CDC Director Julie Gerberding said that the confusion was due to the fact that obesity was not listed in medical records as a cause of death.
"While we may not have an accurate estimate yet of the exact number of people who die from obesity, we certainly know that there is a large number of people who have the problem," Gerberding said.
The campaign by the Center for Consumer Freedom was inspired by new statistics from a CDC unit, the National Center for Health Statistics, or NCHS, that indicated 112,000 deaths were caused by obesity in 2000.
Previously, the CDC had cited statistics to claim that 400,000 people in the United States died every year from excess fat, almost as many as the 435,000 whose deaths are attributed to smoking.
CDC officials have said that obesity should be looked at in the context of what it contributes to life-threatening diseases, including cancer and diabetes.
