A new study has shown that those who gain excessive weight in middle age could be reducing their life expectancy by about 80% Researchers from the University of Warwick and the Harvard School of Public Health in the US have analysed data taken provided by US nurses and concluded that weight gain is a significant indicator of lifespan.
Published in the British Medical Journal , the scientists used information gathered on 17,000 women since 1976. They discovered that women who were obese in their middle age had odds lower by 79% of healthy survival compared to women of a health weight.
The nurses were asked to fill in questionnaires on their lifestyle, weight, height and medical history. They were questioned every two years for over two decades and asked to update the scientists on their health and current lifestyle.
The report concluded that for every 1kg increase in weight there was from when a woman was 18, the chances of healthy survival decreased by 5%. They considered a woman to be ‘healthy’ if she reached 70 or over with no experience of a major chronic disease and associated surgery , such as cancer, diabetes, heart attack, stroke, or Parkinson’s disease.
They warned that women who were already overweight at 18 and gained 10kg or more in middle age were particularly at risk of premature death or ill-health.