If, like most people, you’re carrying a few extra pounds (or you did when you were younger), this added weight increases your risk for physical disabilities in your golden years.
This finding is as the result of a new study from Sticht Center on Aging at Wake Forest University School of Medicine. It is worth recognizing that the elderly population in the United States is increasing all the time (expected to be about 20% of the adult population by 2030), therefore problems with mobility may well be a major concern for all of us.
The study, appears in the April 15, 2009 issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology.
The study analyzed data collected in the Health, Aging and Body Composition study and the subjects were a group of Medicare recipients in Pennsylvania and Tennessee recruited between April 1997 and June 1998.
To be included in the study the subjects had to be living in the community and healthy – free of life threatening illness. There were a total of 2,845 subjects, of an average age of 74 years old.
“In both men and women, being overweight or obese put them at greater risk of developing mobility limitations in old age, and the longer they had been overweight or obese, the greater the risk,” stated lead investigator Denise Houston.
Houston is a recognized authority on aging and nutrition, as well as assistant professor of gerontology at Wake Forest University School of Medicine.
For purposes of this research, mobility was explained as not being able to walk a quarter mile, or climb ten steps.
None of the subjects had any of these problems at the start of the study. Any new mobility limitations were reported during twice yearly follow up for the 7 years of the study.
Using the participants body mass index (BMI) at different age intervals, the study found that a woman who were overweight from her mid-20s to her 70s was close to three times more likely to have mobility issues than women who maintained a healthy weight.
Men’s risk was just a little bit less – They were about 1.6 times more likely to develop mobility problems.
What’s more, the work found that women who were obese (BMI of 30) at age 50, but had reduced their BMI by the time they reached their 70s, were 2.7 times more likely to have mobility issues compared to women who were not obese at any time.
And for men under the same circumstances, the risk was increased 1.8 times for mobility limitations than men who’d never been obese.
Your doctor will tell you that added weight puts extra strain on your joints, can keep you from exercising and be a factor that contributes to chronic conditions – things like heart disease, arthritis or diabetes. These three have been directly linked with limitations in mobility.
So, if you’re thinking that there is plenty of time to lose that extra weight the study found that this may not be the case.
Often weight loss later in life is involuntary, usually the result of some underlying medical condition, after years of extra weight have done their worst to your joints, and lack of exercise has your body weak and wobbly.
To give yourself the best chance being mobile into your golden years, your best bet is lose the extra weight now, and get active so that you keep your joints health, muscles strong and improve overall health.
Next – just head on over to the Daily Health Bulletin for more information on obestity health problems and mobility, plus for a limited time get 5 free fantastic health reports. Click here for more details on this obesity health and mobility study.
