Weight gain equals less healthy life

The more weight women gain from the age of 18 until middle age, the less likely they are to enjoy a long and healthy life, according to new research.

A US study found that compared with lean women, being obese in middle-age reduces the odds of being healthier by 79%.

This underscores the importance of maintaining a healthy weight from early adulthood, the researchers say.

The findings are based on two-yearly monitoring of 17,000 middle-aged women as part of the Nurses Health Study.

It was found that increased body mass index at the start of the study was significantly associated with reduced odds of healthy survival.

Every one unit of body mass index was associated with a 12% reduction in the odds of healthy survival.

Healthy survival referred to women who survived to aged 70 years or older, were free of major chronic diseases and had good cognitive, physical and mental health. ''Usual survival" referred to women who survived to age 70 or older but did not meet these criteria for good health.

Weight gain since the age of 18 was significantly associated with reduced odds of healthy survival. For every one kilogram of weight gain since age 18 years, the odds of healthy survival decreased by 5%.

The worst odds of healthy survival were found among women who were overweight at 18 and gained 10kg or more by middle age.

Even among women who were lean at 18, relative to those who kept a stable weight, women who gained more than 10kg by middle age were 59% less likely to achieve healthy survival.

The research is published on bmj.com

[Posted: Wed 30/09/2009]