According to theInsermalmost half of adults in France (47.3%) are overweight: around 30% are overweight (with a body mass index, or BMI, greater than 25) and around 17% are overweight. situation of obesity (with a BMI greater than 30).
As a reminder, to calculate your body mass index (BMI), multiply your height (in meters) by itself, then divide your weight (in kilos) by the result obtained. A “normal” BMI should be between 18 and 25.
Obesity is a risk factor for many pathologies: among other things, obese people have a greater risk than others of suffering from cardiovascular disease (myocardial infarction, cardiac arrhythmia, arterial hypertension, etc.) or cancer (breast cancer, prostate cancer, liver cancer…).
Overweight is not a factor favoring early mortality
On the other hand, according to work carried out recently by Rutgers University (in the United States), overweight people do not present an increased risk of premature death.
To arrive at this (good!) news, American researchers sifted through medical data concerning more than 550,000 Americans who responded to a health survey between 1999 and 2018, as well as a database concerning deaths that occurred in the United States in 2019.
Verdict: compared to people with a BMI between 22.5 and 25, people whose BMI was in the “25 – 30” range did not have a greater risk of dying early. On the other hand, the risk of death was indeed significantly higher in people who were thin (BMI less than 20) and obese (BMI greater than 30).
Bottom line: If you’re overweight, there’s no need to panic. On the other hand, taking care of your figure (thanks to a balanced diet and regular physical activity, there is no secret) could help you improve your quality of life…
Source : PLOS One
