Study: Dieting May Not Be Helpful for Overweight Elderly
Reported February 01, 2010
There’s more research out today indicating that being overweight can be less harmful for the elderly than for younger people and saying that dieting may not be helpful for the post-70 crowd.
An Australian study published in the Journal of the American Geriatric Society tracked the number of deaths over 10 years in 9,200 people who were aged 70 to 75 at the start of the study. Study participants rated as overweight were found to have the lowest risk of dying during the period from cardiovascular disease, cancer and chronic respiratory disease and also ran the lowest overall death rate among those in the group.
“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 lead researcher from the University of Western Australia told the BBC.
The study said that body-mass index, a common tool for determining obesity, needs some rethinking when it comes to measuring fatty mass in older people.
The researchers also concluded that physical exercise benefits both young and old. Lack of activity doubled the risk of mortality for women during the period studied and raised it by 25% for men. See this recent WSJ article for more on the dangers of a sedentary life.