Women spend their whole lives trying to lose weight but once they turn 85, research suggests they’d be better off fat.
Obesity contributes to the deaths of millions of people every year, reducing a person’s lifespan by an average of six to seven years.
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But a new study by Tel Aviv University found that the opposite is true after the age of 85, when excess fat starts to have a ‘protective’ effect.
Researchers say elderly people who were overweight had a lower risk of death than those who were underweight or had a normal body weight.
This is because heavier people have lower rates of osteoporosis — making them less likely to fall and injure themselves. Obesity also provides extra energy in times of trauma and stress, keeping older people alive for longer when they are unable to eat.
Researchers studied data on 1,349 people between the ages of 75 to 94. Twenty years after the information was collected, the participants were contacted again.
During the intervening 20 years, 95 percent of participants had died, leaving 59 still alive.
Of those still living, a large number were overweight or obese, suggesting that excess fat protected people once they turned 85, making them far less likely to die than their less-weighty counterparts.
Despite their findings, the study leaders warn that obesity is not something all seniors should strive for.
“Though obese people over the age of 85 may be less at risk of death, they may suffer more from obesity-related illnesses,” Professor Jiska Cohen-Mansfield said. “There are other factors to consider, such as pain, multiple ailments, and mobility.”
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This study was published in theJournal of Aging Research.
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