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Body Weight Vs Longevity
 It has been proved now and again that being
overweight
puts you at greater risk for many serious health problems such as
high blood
pressure (hypertension),
heart disease,
diabetes and gall bladder disease. In
fact, losing weight is part of the initial treatment for some of these
conditions.
However, having a few extra pounds later in life is not as risky
and may actually protect you. So, if you are not
obese
and you are past age 50,
and have a few extra pounds, you should weigh your options carefully before
starting to diet.
Gaining weight with age
Aging, leads to decrease in
muscle mass as a result of a
 fall in
activity levels and thus your
energy requirements are less. In addition, many of your daily activities
change: you don't run to catch that bus anymore, you now play half court
basketball instead of full court, and you may have exchanged the salsa for the
tango.
With aging, it's also more difficult to take off those
additional pounds around your waist or hips. It is easy to take off the
pounds at age 25 but at 50, it takes real work to get that zipper closed
again.
Besides, the lessened energy needs with aging are not matched by
a parallel decline in food consumption and, as a result, your body fat
increases. If you saw an MRI of how the average thigh changes with aging, you
would be shocked. The size of your thigh bone, the femur, doesn't change much.
In the young thigh, the muscles comprise most of the cross-section of the thigh.
But, if you don't stay in shape, by the time you reach old age, you will have a
hard time finding the muscle mass that has shrunken to a small fraction of its
young size.
Studies conducted over age
weight and height of individuals at death (compiled over the years by
insurance companies) clearly indicate that the longest lived group are those in
the middle weight categories and that those who were at the two extremes, the
very underweight and the very
overweight, had the shortest time on this planet.
If you have a
BMI below 25, there is little to be concerned as you are
considered O.K. If you are overweight with a BMI of 25 or 26 and you don't
have diabetes, high blood pressure, gall bladder disease,
sleep apnea or severe
arthritis, don't start worrying. Having a few extra pounds in later life will
probably not decrease your longevity, particularly if you don't have any
additional risk factors such as being a smoker, having a high
cholesterol or a
family history of heart disease. If your BMI is 25 or 26, and you don't have
these diseases or risk factors, you probably will do just fine, particularly if
you have been a little overweight most of your life.
In fact, a few extra pounds might
even protect you. In the Swedish Hip Fracture Study, those women who gained
weight during adult life had a significantly decreased risk of fracturing their
hips. By contrast, studies have shown that women who lose weight have a
substantially increased risk of this serious life-threatening condition. The
best explanation as to why additional weight protects you from a hip fracture is
that a little extra cushioning around your hip helps to absorb some of the shock
of the fall and thus prevents a devastating hip fracture.
Later in life, having a few extra pounds may even improve your
health and longevity. In a study of individuals in their seventies, those with
the best chances of survival had BMI's that were 25-27 kg/m (women). One of the
interesting discoveries in aging research is that pounds that are added to your
hips are not as detrimental to your health and longevity as pounds added to your
waistline. All the evidence shows that it's better to resemble a pear than an
apple. The pear-shaped
figures of the women probably did not cause
them any serious health problems. However, the massive beer bellies carry with
them a significant health risk.
The same National Institutes of Health guidelines that give the
new definitions of overweight by using your BMI recognize the importance of
where the extra pounds go, and urge physicians to measure your waist in addition
to your height and weight. For women a waist of more than 35 inches places them
at increased risk.
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