Being overweight or obese shortens lifespan – Jamaica Observer

Being overweight or obese shortens lifespan

Study confirms increased risk of death for adults carrying excess weight

Dr Claudine Lewis

Sunday, August 28, 2016    

EXCESS body fat can take years off your life, according to an international study linking being overweight or obese to significantly increased risk for death.

Published in The Lancet, this study hoped to settle the debate on the association between obesity and mortality risk. While there’s a wealth of evidence linking excess weight to poor health outcomes, a previous study found no relationship between obesity and mortality risk, sending mixed messages to the public. To set the record straight, the Global BMI Mortality Collaboration was established to look at weight and mortality risk across different populations.

Together, their analysis included nearly four million people from 189 studies across four continents, making it one of the largest and most diverse studies of its kind. Researchers were careful to include only never-smokers without chronic diseases who survived at least five years into each study, since these factors can skew outcomes.

With up to 15 years of follow-up, researchers found that overweight and obesity were both linked to increased risk of death. Not surprisingly, the more overweight or obese an individual was, the greater their mortality risk.

Overweight adults had seven to 22 per cent higher mortality risk than normal weight adults. Worse, obese adults had up to three times greater risk of death than those who were normal weight. According to authors, these associations were strong across all populations included in the study.

Authors hope the findings will guide international public health policy as obesity rates remain at a record high and continue to grow in all corners of the world. Currently, the World Health Organization estimates that 1.3 billion adults worldwide are overweight, and an additional 600 million are obese. As this study confirms, overweight and obesity can have a major negative impact on health outcomes and survival. Thus, authors encourage international strategies to combat overweight and obesity and help improve outcomes for future generations.

QUESTIONS FOR YOU TO CONSIDER

1. CAN WEIGHT LOSS IMPROVE MY HEALTH?

Even a relatively modest weight loss of five to 10 per cent of your body weight can produce health benefits such as lower blood pressure, lower blood sugar, and improved cholesterol levels. Additionally, weight loss has been shown to help people with asthma have fewer attacks and use less medicine, as well as improve the quality of sleep in people with obstructive sleep apnea.

2. WHAT IS A HEALTHY WEIGHT?

A few important tools can be used to determine if an individual is underweight, normal weight or overweight. The easiest tool is a Body Mass Index (BMI), which is calculated using height and weight to estimate levels of body fat. A normal BMI is 18.5 – 24.9 kg/ m2.

However, Body Mass Index is not always accurate, particularly among individuals with extremely high or low amounts of muscle. In these cases, measuring waist circumference is helpful in assessing weight, as a waist circumference greater than 35 inches for a woman or 40 inches for a man is considered unhealthy. These measures are easy to obtain and should be part of your general health and cardiovascular risk assessment.

Dr Claudine Lewis is an adult cardiologist and medical director at Heart Smart Centre in Montego Bay. She is also a cardiologist at the Cornwall Regional Hospital and an associate lecturer with the University of the West Indies. Questions may be sent to

questions@heartsmartcentre.com

and for additional information call 684-9989 or visit the website

www.heartsmartcentre.com

from myhealtyze http://www.myhealtyze.tk/being-overweight-or-obese-shortens-lifespan-jamaica-observer/