If you are overweight – but only a little bit – congratulations, you are probably going to live the longest of any of us. That’s right, according to a new study people who were overweight, but not obese, were in prime position to outlive everyone else.

In the study, published in the journal Obesity, experts followed people 25 and older for 12 years. What they found was that people in the body mass index range of 25-29.9 were 17 percent less likely to die than those who were normal weight (a BMI of 18.5-24.9). Those who were underweight, a BMI less than 18.5, were 73 percent more likely to die than those who were normal weight.

“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 in Portland, Oregon, and one of the authors of the study. “Overweight was protective.”

The study was thorough and took into account issues that may lead people to poke holes in it: age, gender, people’s smoking habits, exercise, alcohol consumption, and diseases such as cancer.

In 2007, scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Cancer Institute reported that overweight adults were less likely than normal weight adults to die from a variety of diseases, including infections and lung disease.

Feeny says the findings may be due to the fact that a little excess weight is protective for the elderly. But the one possible explanation that would diffuse the controversial aspect of the findings is that maybe medication, used to treat health conditions associated with being overweight, is responsible for prolonging their lives.

(via: The New York Times)

Post from: Diets in Review Blog

Overweight People May Live Longest

A little more scientific than spending $75 on psychic reading, The Living to 100 Life Expectancy Calculator uses the most current and carefully researched medical and scientific data in order to estimate how old you will live to be. And it’s free! The calculator was created by Thomas Perls M.D., MPH who is the founder and director of the New England Centenarian Study, the largest study of centenarians and their families in the world.

If this sounds a bit intimidating, take comfort in knowing that if you score lower than you would hope for, there are tons of lifestyle and medical preventive measures you can take to ensure that you live a long and healthy life. And the feedback at the end of the calculator points out these areas that could help add a few more years to your life.

The online calculator poses a series of questions to you based upon your personal life, lifestyle, nutrition, and medical history. The questionnaire takes about 10 minutes to complete and believe me, it’s a fun and informative way to see how your lifestyle habits and family history are enabling you to lead a healthy (or not-so healthy) life. Once your age is calculated, you can also receive additional feedback on each section of the questionnaire that you scored low on. For instance, I scored a bit low on my calcium requirements so it was suggested that I up my calcium intake via more dairy and supplements.

The questionnaire is not your crystal ball into the future, but it does provide you with a little glimpse into how your future is intricately dependent upon your present.

Post from: Diets in Review Blog

Living to 100 Life Expectancy Calculator