According to a Canadian study being a little overweight is beneficial as it
appears to protect people from an early death.
Researchers said underweight and extremely obese people die earlier than people
who had normal body weight, but people who are slightly overweight actually live
longer than people of normal body weight.
Researcher David Feeny from the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research
said, "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."
The study findings were published online in the journal Obesity by researchers
at Statistics Canada, Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research, Portland
State University, Oregon Health & Science University, and McGill University.
However adding a note of caution was fellow researcher Mark Kaplan, professor of
Community Health at Portland State University, who said "Our study only looked
at mortality, not at quality of life, and there are many negative health
consequences associated with obesity, including high blood pressure, high
cholesterol, and diabetes."
The study used data from the National Population Health Survey and was based on
examining the relationship between body mass index and death among 11,326 adults
in Canada over a 12-year period.
The researchers found that during the study period, from 1994 through 2007,
underweight people were 70% more likely than people of normal weight to die,
while extremely obese people were 36% more likely to die.
However overweight individuals were 17 % less likely to die while the relative
risk for obese people was nearly the same as for people of normal weight.
Another study highlighted a different aspect of the weight increases seen in the
recent years. Women today are heavier and many gain too much weight during
pregnancy which increases the chance of complications that affect the health of
mother and child.
The report: Substantial weight gain for obese pregnant women poses increased
risks for mother and child, by the Institute of Medicine released revised
recommendations for expectant mothers.
The institute’s recommendations urge overweight women to gain no more than 20
pounds during pregnancy. Nancy Butte, a Baylor College of Medicine pediatrics
professor who served on the committee to re-examine pregnancy weight gain
guidelines said, “One of the biggest predictors of outcome is the mother's
pre-pregnancy weight.”
The recommendations are based on body mass index or BMI and in 1980, 18% of
women in their childbearing years were overweight, and 13% were obese, today,
60% of U.S. females of childbearing age are too heavy.
“That's what really changed the whole scene,” Butte said.
Dr. Fernando Guerra, director of San Antonio's Metropolitan Health District who
also served on the national committee said, “For the woman who is already
overweight or obese, there's a much higher risk of prematurity, the need for
Caesarean, gestational diabetes, pre-eclampsia and many things that potentially
could be prevented if we could slow down weight gain or try to get them closer
to a normal weight before they got pregnant.”
Expectant mothers who gain too much are at risk of having overweight babies
which puts the child at risk for obesity later in life. Additionally overweight
women are also at risk of babies with low birth weight.
Health experts said talking about weight related issue before patients conceive
is the key to reducing the number of obese pregnant women. “If it's done
properly, it can motivate the woman to lose weight or pay attention to weight
gain in pregnancy and for her future health,” Butte said. “A lot of women put on
their initial gain in the postpartum period and go into their next pregnancy
overweight or obese.”
Source : topnews.us
