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News for Baby Boomers
Overweight Middle-Aged Women Not Likely to Enjoy
Healthy Old Age
More likely headed to major chronic diseases
such as cancer and coronary heart disease and poor quality of life
 Sept. 30, 2009 - Women who put on weight as they
approach middle-age could reduce their chances of enjoying a healthy old
age by up to 80%, says new research in the British Medial Journal.
The study suggests that women who have a high body mass index in middle
age are significantly more likely to suffer from major chronic diseases
such as cancer and coronary heart disease and poor quality of life.
Dr Oscar Franco, Assistant Clinical Professor of
Public Health at the University of Warwick Medical School collaborated
on the paper with researchers from Harvard School of Public Health in
Boston, Massachusetts.
The research team found that for every 1kg gained
in weight since the age of 18, the odds of healthy survival into old age
decreased by 5%.
They also found that women who were overweight at
the age of 18 and continued to gain weight as they grew older were most
at risk of developing a major chronic disease. Obese women with a body
mass index of more than 25kg/m2 had 79% lower odds of aging without
developing a chronic disease, compared to women with a body mass index
of 18.5-22.9kg/m2.
The research team used the Nurses' Health Study,
which has gathered data from more than 120,000 female registered nurses
living in 11 US states since 1976. Follow-up questionnaires have been
sent out every two years to update information on disease incidence and
lifestyle factors.
Dr Franco said those study participants who had
reached the age of 70 and were free of major chronic disease, had no
major impairment of cognitive function and no major limitation of
physical function were considered as examples of 'successful aging'.
"In summary, he said, this study provides new
evidence that adiposity at mid-life is a strong risk factor predicting a
worse probability of successful survival among older women. In addition,
our data suggest that maintenance of healthy weight throughout adulthood
may be vital to optimal overall health at older ages.
Given that more and more people are surviving to
older ages and, at the same time, gaining weight, our results may be
particularly important with respect to clinical or public health
interventions."
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