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Women who are overweight at 18 or obese at 50 can expect to experience serious mental and physical limitations by the time they reach 70, according to data from a long-term study of how women age.
Findings posted to the BMJ Web site yesterday indicate that women who did not achieve or maintain a healthy body mass index in early or midlife were significantly more like to have cancer, diabetes, Parkinson's disease, heart disease or stroke. Researchers led by Qi Sun also noted that being overweight or obese at younger ages decreased a woman's ability to engage in physical and social activities due to lower mental health, vitality and general perceptions of personal health.
Overall, just 9.9 percent of the participants in the Nurses' Health Study who reached 70 years of age escaped any of the chronic diseases or mental difficulties the researchers considered. However, excess bodyweight increased a woman's chances for having a life-limiting problem by 79 percent.
Qi Sun told ScienceDaily, "Since body weight is a modifiable factor, the good news is that healthy aging is not purely the consequence of good genes or other factors that one cannot change. If women maintain a healthy weight as adults, they may increase their odds of enjoying a healthy life in their later years,"
The researchers defined overweight as having a BMI of 23-29.9 and obese as having a BMI greater than 30. These figures differ slightly from those used by the U.S. government, which provides an online tool for calculating BMI.
Currently, 35.3 percent of U.S. women meet the federal definition for being obese.
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Comments
Thanks for the information! Very useful and timely.
Enough already. Many of us who are "overweight" and over 60 continue to be happy, healthy and vibrant. The obsession with being thin has now grown to be a non-stop attack on anyone who does not fit your criteria for normal. As a very overwieght woman over 60, I have no health problems, no mmental problems and no social problems except having to read constant criticism bout weight. Everyone is different. Reading your articles would make one believe than no slim people ever get sick.
The odds aren't great even if you are thin. Only 10% of all the women in the study were "healthy" at 70. Granted a much smaller percentage of those who were fat were healthy, but the majority (fat and thin)had health issues.
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