Deadly Middle Age Spread
I very much doubt that this will much of a surprise to anyone or really motivate someone but here is a bit of research that appeared in a number of UK daily newspapers today.
Deadly middle-aged spread weight
Don’t get complacent about creeping weight gain, warn scientists – it could cut your chances of a healthy old age by nearly 80 per cent.
Until now the proud boast of a middle aged woman who can say she has been the same weight all her life, might have been dismissed as little more than vanity by those not similarly blessed (or as careful with calories).
However scientists from Harvard University argue that there are real health benefits to be gained from maintaining a stable weight. Their study, published in the British Medical Journal, reveals that the more weight you put on from the age of 18 until middle age, the less chance you have of a long and healthy life.
They analysed data based on the comprehensive bi-annual monitoring of more than 17,000 middle-aged women in the United States as part of the Nurses Health Study.
The researchers defined ‘healthy survival’ as living to the age of 70 or older, while being free of major chronic diseases and with good cognitive, physical and mental health. By comparison, their definition of ‘usual survival’ referred to those who survived to the age of 70 or older but did not meet these criteria.
They defined slim women as those with a body mass index (BMI) of under 22.9 and obese women as those with a BMI of 30+. The latter group’s chances of surviving into a healthy old age were slashed by 79 per cent as compared with the slim women, the study found. Women whose weight continued to increase after the age of 18 faced a reduction of five per cent for each kilo gained.
However, if you were slender at 18 but are a little more portly now, it’s not a cause for celebration. If you’ve gained 10 kilos by middle age, you may also have reduced your chances of making it into a healthy old age by up to 59 per cent.
The authors say their study shows the importance of maintaining a stable healthy weight from young adulthood onwards.
Commenting on the study’s findings, the National Obesity Forum’s Dr David Haslam says:
“We live in a time when life expectancy is increasing due to improvements in the environment and medical science, but we’re now learning that due to the rise in obesity levels the trend may be about to reverse.
“The current adult population of the UK will lose a cumulative 100,000,000 years of life due to excess weight, and the only way for someone to avoid excess risk of illnesses such as diabetes and heart disease is to start lean, and stay lean, but for the rest of us it emphasises the importance of simple dietary measures, and especially physical activity, in order to stay as healthy as possible.”
September 30, 2009
Tags: health, middle age spread, slim, weight, weight gain Posted in: Health & Nutrition