"Another Reason to Fight the Fat"

As part of my job I read the local newspapers and magazines every day/week. This morning I grabbed the Las Vegas Review Journal and on the front page a headline read "another reason to FIGHT THE FAT." Well, this certainly caught my attention since I am, indeed, overweight, and also because I've become so much more aware of my weight and losing weight within the last month and a half.

Although it wasn't an article I had to read for any work-related purposes, I took the time to read through this side-bar of sorts that gave details about a new study released in the medical journal, BMJ, by the U.S. National Institutes of Health and the Boston Obesity Nutrition Research Center.

The gist of the study showed that being fat during middle age may hinder women's chances of making it to their golden years in good health by almost 80 percent. This means that women who are overweight in their 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s have an almost 80 percent decreased chance of surviving to 70-years-old in good health (defined as being free of chronic disease and having enough mental and physical ability to perform daily tasks such as grocery shopping, vacuuming or walking up a flight of stairs).

American researchers observed more than 17,000 female nurses with an average age of 50 in the United States. At the time the study began, 1976, all women were in good health. Researchers monitored the women's weight and health and tracked changes every two years until 2000.

In this study, for every one-point increase in their Body Mass Index (BMI), women had a 12 percent lower chance of surviving to age 70 in good health. For every 2.2 pounds of weight gained since the age of 18, women's odds of surviving past 70 years old dropped by 5 percent. Likewise, women overweight at the age of 18 who gained more than 22 pounds later in life only had a 20 percent chance of surviving to age 70 in good health.

The article also described previous studies conducted regarding similar topics. A British study published earlier in 2009 found that obese people die about three years earlier than normal while those who are morbidly obese die, on average, a decade earlier. Another study also found that men are probably equally at risk for these results since fat acts largely the same way in both genders.

I took some time after reading this to compare it to my own life. At the age of 18 I wasn't overweight, but I was starting to gain weight more regularly. It wasn't until 20-years-old or so that I would have been consistently considered overweight, and I didn't reach the label of obese until I was almost 24 and worked behind a desk for a living. According to this study, I am definitely one of the women whose chances of being in good health at the age of 70 is decreasing. The article didn't say anything else and no other details were given about what people can do to try and curb this trend or whether or not losing the weight then re-increases the chances of survival. I have to assume that, for someone like me who is still quite young, if I take the time to correct my eating habits, slim down and exercise regularly that I still have a fighting chance of shimmery golden years. Regardless of that study and my own "percentages" I'm still trekking on. Only time will tell how my health shapes up.