Study: Slightly Overweight Live Longer
About Michael John ScottMr. Scott is the owner and publisher of Mad Mike's America. He is a U.S. Army veteran, career law enforcement executive, and dog trainer. He is a university professor, and criminal justice consultant, holding several degrees, including a master's in criminal justice and human services. He has completed the requisite coursework toward his doctorate, and is still working on his dissertation.
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I’m overweight and I hate it. I don’t eat a lot of junk food, and rarely those delightful jewels of chocolate and ice cream. I also don’t eat meat and I exercise at least 30 minutes a day on most days. Why am I still overweight? I’ll be damned if I know. The quack tells me that my body has adjusted to this poundage and short of starvation diets and vigorous exercise I’m pretty much doomed to carry some extra tonnage.
Pic courtesy of Inquistr.com
I had pretty much resigned myself to croaking early when I read this Newser summary:
Being obese is likely to take years off your life, but those who are just a bit overweight actually appear to have a lower risk of premature death than those of normal weight, according to a startling new study. Researchers crunched the numbers on studies involving nearly 3 million people and found that people classed as overweight died at slightly lower rates than those with a normal body mass index, while those considered mildly obese didn’t have a higher risk of premature death than the normal group, reports the Los Angeles Times.
A total of 270,000 people died of any cause during the studies. When the scientists crunched the numbers, they found, as expected, that people who were significantly obese — with a body mass index, or BMI, of 35 or more — had shorter life spans on average than those who were of normal weight, defined as having a BMI of 18.5 to 24.9.
But the scientists also found that people classified as overweight, with a BMI of 25 to 29.9, died at slightly lower rates — not higher — than those of so-called normal weight. And they found that those who were mildly obese, with a BMI of 30 to 34.9, died in no greater numbers than did their normal-weight peers.
Among over-65s, even the highly obese had no extra mortality risk. Experts say the apparent survival edge of the overweight could come down to many factors—extra reserves of fat during illness, more padding to protect elderly bones from falls, or perhaps the fact that the overweight are likelier to suffer medical conditions that bring them in regular contact with doctors. It’s those chronic conditions, including diabetes and high blood pressure, that make researchers hope the study won’t start a stampede for the cookie aisle.
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Mauigirl
January 2, 2013 at 8:30 am
Very interesting. I am not surprised that people over 65 who are overweight would have an advantage – my aunt was very thin all her life and although she lived to be 91 she had a lot more health problems than my mom, who was normal to slightly chubby when she was younger and continued to weigh a little more than my aunt until her last few years, was healthy as a horse until she turned about 90, when 60+ years of smoking caught up to her! My aunt finally fell and broke her hip, which set off her demise. My mother, despite some falls in her old age, never broke anything and also lived to be 91.
Of course, good genes don’t hurt I’m sure!
Michael John Scott
January 2, 2013 at 8:57 am
My mom is 92 Maui and she is also still going strong, but she has a very, very slight build. I hope she lives to at least 120
James Smith
January 2, 2013 at 8:47 am
Mike, it all comes down to body type as well as the simple math I mentioned in “The Cruel Truth About Fat.” If you’re an ectomorph, you’ll have a lean body type that doesn’t easily put on weight, either in the form of fat or muscle mass. If you’re a mesomorph, you will be a more muscular build but can add fat more easily. An endomorph is a person that easily adds fat and might struggle with that all their life.
Usually, a person is not strictly one type or the other, but more of a combination. Personally, I am mostly an ectomorph, but I have always had a slight problem with belly fat. That seems to be genes from my father’s side. He, and all of his brothers, looked the same way.
As you know, I probably exercise more than most people of any age. Right now, my weight is the same as it was when I was teaching 11 or 12 martial arts classes a week and doing 3 or 4 Nautilus workouts a week, too. I still have a slight paunch and it refuses to go away no matter how much I work out or how carefully I eat. It’s not all bad, as your article shows.
As a martial artist, there is one other advantage. If you are punched in the stomach, the fat helps cushion and spread the impact over a larger area. I used to stand in front of my students and allow them to punch my stomach as hard as they could. When it had no effect, I would tell them, “Either you can’t punch hard enough or the stomach isn’t always such a good target.”
Michael John Scott
January 2, 2013 at 8:58 am
I have the stomach thing going on James. I lift weights regularly, and do various and sundry other exercises, so I’m muscular but heavy around the middle. I always blamed it on Johnny Walker
James Smith
January 2, 2013 at 9:00 am
There’s your problem. Drink the cheap stuff, they can’t afford to put all the calories in it. That’s why it costs less.
Michael John Scott
January 2, 2013 at 10:10 am
I tried the cheap stuff and just can’t abide it. Curiously, I’ve stopped my evening cocktails for months at a time, and didn’t lose an ounce. That surprised me.
James Smith
January 2, 2013 at 12:23 pm
I am such a heathen that I really can’t tell the difference. I was at a party recently and they had Johnny Walker Black and I could not tell the difference between that and the Grant’s I have at home.
Maybe I am just not sophisticated enough even though I just finished rereading all of the James Bond novels.
Bill Formby
January 2, 2013 at 3:55 pm
lol @ both of you. At our ages guys you are pretty much who you are going to be if you take reasonable care of yourself. While I side with Mike on the JW I dabble in much lees than I used too.
James Smith
January 2, 2013 at 4:01 pm
Bill, you’re right. I was having that conversation with a friend in Arizona last week. He’s still a kid yet. (52) He asked if I thought, doing all the exercise I do, if I thought I was going to become more muscular or stronger at my age.
I told him, that wasn’t the point, with my body type, I was as muscular at 40 as I was ever going to be. And I’m not much different today. Nor do I expect at 70 to become noticeably stronger. I do want to keep the cardiac-vascular system in condition and keep my bones from deteriorating. If I can accomplish those two things, that’s a big win. I do some stretching too, but I know I’ll never be as flexible as I was. I just want to be able to trim my own toenails.
Bill Formby
January 3, 2013 at 10:25 am
Interesting you mention that sine you have also practice the martial arts. That is thing I am really glad I took up. I find that my flexibility and core strength seems to far exceed others at my age. I still mostly stretch and do a few katas and it seems to maintain my strength and flexibility.
James Smith
January 3, 2013 at 11:58 am
I have trained for over 40 years now. So it’s like breathing, I’d have to make a deliberate effort to stop.
I have a short video at http://s1181.beta.photobucket.com/user/slrman/media/MartialFinal.mp4.html?sort=3&o=34 that covers some of it.
Michael John Scott
January 4, 2013 at 10:34 am
I hear you on that toenails thing James
James Smith
January 4, 2013 at 1:39 pm
I just trimmed mine today, so maybe I am still OK? I didn’t even cut myself