Being Overweight May Lead to Longer Life

Hugh Pickens writes: "Findings of a new study show that underweight people and those who are extremely obese die earlier than people of normal weight — but those who are overweight actually live longer than people of normal weight. "It's not surprising that extreme underweight and extreme obesity increase the risk of dying, but it is surprising that carrying a little extra weight may give people a longevity advantage," said one of the coauthors of the study. "It may be that a few extra pounds actually protect older people as their health declines, but that doesn't mean that people in the normal weight range should try to put on a few pounds." The study examined the relationship between body mass index and death among 11,326 adults in Canada over a 12-year period. The study showed that underweight people were 70 percent more likely than people of normal weight to die, and extremely obese people were 36 percent more likely to die. But overweight individuals defined as a body mass index of 25 to 29.9 were 17 percent less likely to die than people of a normal weight defined as a BMI of 18.5 to 24.9. The relative risk for obese people was nearly the same as for people of normal weight. The authors controlled for factors such as age, sex, physical activity, and smoking. "Overweight may not be the problem we thought it was," said Dr. David H. Feeny, a senior investigator at Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research. "Overweight was protective.""

Good news/Bad news

[theuhstuf]

This is good news for my diet, but not my figure! >. MEH girls like pandas right?

Body fat %?

[drunken_boxer777]

BMI is flawed. The researchers should have examined the percentage of body fat of the individuals. Obviously that would have significantly added to the complexity and cost of the study, but it could have increased the accuracy.

Individuals with more muscle mass than 'normal' tend to be overweight by BMI standards. (Whether increased muscle mass affects mortality is a separate issue.) Lumping muscular people and fat people together can't reasonably paint an accurate picture on relative body mass vs. long-term

Re:

[dyingtolive]

Not to mention bone density. I was "skinny" back in high school and still weighed 200 lbs. I wore US size 34 jeans and they were loose.