Middle Aged Women Take Huge Risk with Obesity

If being overweight doesn't kill you in your old age, it may very well make your senior years miserable from the threat of continuous health risks and damaged mental fitness. This is what women who become obese in middle age may have to look forward to, if they are not careful.

A new study states that women who become obese by middle age are 80 percent more prone to have multiple problems with their health when they reach 70 years of age.

The women who were part of the study had lived into their eighties, meaning they maintained their health better than the rest of the population.

The study details were printed in the journal, BMJ.

Prior research focused on how being obese affects survival, instead of the quality of

that survival in older adults.

The study is timely, since the United States population is aging quickly --- and ballooning

quickly. Two-thirds of adults in America are obese, that's 51% higher than back in

1976, when the research started.

The study analyzed data on more than17,065 women taking part in the Nurses' Health Study.

Participants averaged 50 years in age when the project began and had no major chronic conditions, major mental, or physical problems.

Twenty years later, only about 10 percent of them had survived in good health, and obese women had only a 21 percent chance to have survival as healthy as the slim minority.

Obesity early as age 18 affected healthy survival heavily, although lean women who later gained weight had low odds of surviving in good health.

Every kilogram of extra weight reduced the chances of healthy living by 5 percent.

Women may have a statistical disadvantage.

There are typically more women enrolled in diabetes treatment. Women have a prejudicial condition. Women are predisposed to have more fat cells than men.

The study follows common sense. Ask yourself what do people die from? They die from cardiovascular disease, cancer, and diseases related to obesity. Millions of women from colon cancer and breast cancer.

Breastcancer, cardiovascular disease, and colon cancer all have links to obesity.

The best thing women can do to remain health is to practice a healthy lifestyle. This lifestyle features good eating habits and plenty of exercise. In middle age, when a woman's metabolism slows and chemical changes are ravaging her body, it is particularly important to maintain this pattern of healthy eating and exercise.

Resources:
Physorg.com: Obesity In Middle Aged Women Cuts Chance of a Long, Healthy Life by 80%
http://www.physorg.com/news173515103.html
Article: Obesity in Middle Age Bodes Ill For Old Age
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090929/hl_nm/us_obesity_women