New study suggests that elderly people who are moderately overweight may live longer than their “normal weight” counterparts. The study also suggests that being severely overweight or underweight shortened lives.
The study was conducted by the University of Western Australia and appeared in the “Journal of the American Geriatric Society.” It followed 9,200 people for ten years. Study subjects were in their early to mid seventies when the study began.
The study team found that the overweight subjects had a lower risk of death while the very obese were at a much greater risk of death during the study period.
“Concerns have been raised about encouraging apparently overweight older people to lose weight,” said Professor Leon Flicker, Lead Researcher for the study. “Our study suggests that those people who survive to age 70 in reasonable health have a different set of risks and benefits associated with the amount of body fat to younger people.”
The study team believes that the Body Mass Index (BMI) may not be an accurate measurement of fatty mass in the elderly: “It may be time to review the BMI classification for older adults,” said Professor Flicker.
The only constant across all groups was the effect that a sedentary lifestyle has. Being sedentary increased the mortality rate by 25% in men and doubled it in women.
Umm… Yeah the guy in this pic isn’t “overweight”. He is disgustingly, morbidly obese.. If we are going to talk about overweight, lets not put a whale graphic on there..