Benefit to Being Overweight and Over 70
New research indicates using body mass index (BMI) as a tool to measure health risk in older individuals may not be so accurate.
What is BMI
Body mass index is calculated using an individual’s height and weight. Weight in kilograms is divided by height in centimeters squared. BMI is frequently used to assess overall health. The World Health Organization established four BMI categories:
Obesity Rates Have Stabilized
Researchers periodically evaluate data from NHANES (National Healthy and Nutrition Examination Survey). Recently rates of obesity were compared over the past 50 years.
Between 1960-1980 the number of adults who were obese stayed relatively stable. Between 1976-1980 and 1988-1994 data the number of obese adults in the US increased 8 percentage points. Then between 1999-2000 data reported further increases in the number of U.S. obese adults.
Well, the latest research has been analyzed again and the good news is that the percentage of obese women did not significantly increase between 1999 and 2008.
If obesity is not longer increasing, that is great news; but the fact that 68% of U.S. adults are overweight or obese and 32% of U.S. school children are above the 85th percentile BMI-for-age leaves plenty of room for concern.
It’s still critical that individuals who are overweight or obese take steps to lose the extra pounds. Obesity is a major health risk increasing risk for many diseases, including heart disease and cancer.
Overweight is defined as a body mass index (BMI) between 25-29.9.
Obesity is defined as a body mass index above 30.0.
Don’t know where you fall? Here’s a how to calculate your BMI:
Weight divided by height divided by height x 703 = BMI
Here’s an example:
Height = 64 inches
Weight = 150 pounds
150 divided by 64 divided by 64 x 703 = 25.7 (overweight)
The first step is to evaluate your situation and outline a plan of action. A Mini Diet Makeover will complete this for you – https://www.lisanelsonrd.com/minidietmakeover.html.
Have you been successful losing weight? I’d love to hear your story. You can share your story as a comment below.
All the best,
Lisa Nelson RD
1-A-Week Weight Loss Tips
http://www.weightlosswithlisa.com
Body fat – Nature versus Nurture
I find it interesting that identical twins raised apart have similar weight gain patterns and fat deposits. If one is overweight, the other is usually overweight. This suggests that 80% of obesity is related to genetics and not eating habits.
My gut reaction is to argue this and say it provides too easy of a cop out for overweight individuals to say “it’s just my genes”. I argue that the remaining 20%, which is determined by how a child is raised, has a signficant impact on overall overweight status.
What do you think?
Additional interesting statistics:
A child with no obese parent has a 10% chance of being an obese adult.
A child with one obese parent has a 40% chance of being an obese adult.
A child with two obese parents has an 80% chance of being an obese adult.
Lisa Nelson, RD, LN
eNutritionServices
