Obese youth twice as likely to have MS
Just in time for Thanksgiving overindulgence, a just-released study shows that teenagers who are obese have a higher risk of developing Multiple Sclerosis as an adult.
At the moment, the study has been limited to teenagers, and no association has been found between body weight during childhood and adulthood according to the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
Over the course of 40 years in the study, 593 overweight youths developed Multiple Sclerosis. The research study involved 238,371women from the Nurses’ Health Study and Nurses’ Health Study II who were 25 to 55 years old.
Participants reported their weight and height at age 18 and scientists calculated their body mass index (BMI). The study found that women who had a BMI of 30 or larger at age 18 had more than twice the risk of developing MS compared to those with a BMI between 18.5 and 20.9.
The disease risk among women who were overweight but not obese at age 18 was only somewhat increased. The results were the same after accounting for smoking status and physical activity level.
"Our results suggest that weight during adolescence, rather than childhood or adulthood, is critical in determining the risk of MS," said study author Kassandra Munger, of Harvard School of Public Health in Boston.
"Teaching and practicing obesity prevention from the start, but especially during teenage years, may be an important step in reducing the risk of MS later in life for women,” she added.
People who are overweight tend to have lower levels of vitamin D, which is thought to help people with MS. Also, an abundance of fatty tissue is thought to affect the immune system.
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Comments
Very interesting article.
This makes me think Vitamin D should be put in public water.
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