The body mass index (BMI) is a measure that allows us to easily evaluate the concentration of mass in our body and to know if we have an adequate weight for our height. In general, when our BMI figure exceeds what is considered a normal weight and falls within the range of obesity or overweight, we are more likely to suffer from health problems such as cardiovascular disease or cancer. However, a study published today in the magazine Natural Aging suggests that this conclusion may not be extrapolated, at least to people over 80 years of age in China.
In a study led by Xiaoming Shi, from the Chinese Center for Disease Prevention and Control, 27,000 individuals over 80 years of age were observed, with an average age of 92.7 years and, according to their conclusions, for this specific group of the population, being overweight and even mildly obese is associated with lower mortality from all diseases, except cardiovascular ones. Specifically, the optimal BMI for the health of the elderly was between 26 and 30.6, when overweight starts at 25 and obesity starts at 29.
This finding suggests that perhaps the health recommendations regarding BMI, which are made from the weight and health study for the general population, should be adjusted for this age group, which is a minority. In an article also published in Nature by Jean Woo, from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, it is recalled that other studies have observed this beneficial effect of being slightly overweight according to general considerations. “Still, these discoveries have been largely ignored by health professionals, even though they have been seen in the US, Australia, Europe and Hong Kong,” Woo warns.
Felipe Casanueva, a professor at the University of Santiago de Compostela who has not participated in the work, considers it “interesting and well done”, but believes that “the recommendations on healthy living that are made to the population cannot be changed for a single study” and that “overweight should be avoided at all ages”. However, he explains, with age, obesity problems change. “Sarcopenic obesity problems occur, which happens when weight is maintained, but body composition changes because fat increases and muscle decreases.” This makes it important to also study the percentages of muscle and fat and explains why, in addition to a good diet, exercise programs are so important for elderly people to maintain muscle mass. Other factors, such as the effects of osteoporosis on the vertebrae, cause height to be lost with old age and this explains part of the increase in BMI in the group studied by the Chinese team.
The authors point out that some recently obtained data suggest that certain risks for cardiovascular health, such as having high cholesterol or blood pressure, are related to better health and survival among older people, something that seems to be in line with their results. .
Among the possible explanations for this paradox of obesity, Xiaoming’s team points out that being overweight may be a sign of a better nutritional status, which would compensate for the risks of weighing too much, and points out that an excess of fat may represent “a reserve protective energy […] or the sequestration of toxins in the fat that provides an advantage for survival”. In addition, it must be remembered that from the age of 60, the average weight of the population tends to decrease due to the loss of muscle mass, something that can explain the worsening of health.
The work published in Natural Aging concludes that these results and those of other similar studies suggest that it is necessary to interpret the BMI and its relationship with health, also taking into account other factors such as age, the percentage of fat and muscle, and the specific diseases suffered.
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