A little weight gain in early adulthood and mid-50s promotes chronic disease, say results of a study published in the medical journal JAMA. Compared to people who maintained their weight stable, individuals who gained even a moderate amount of weight (2.2 to 10 kg) before the age of 55 increased their risk of chronic diseases, premature death and decreased the likelihood of healthy aging.
Researchers from Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health in the United States conducted a large-scale study with 92,837 participants, including women followed between 1976 and 2012 and men followed from 1986 to 2012 to understand the health risk of weight gain in adulthood. Most people gain weight cumulatively during adulthood. Because the pounds gained per year can be relatively small, the weight gain may go unnoticed, but the cumulative weight gain during adulthood can be significant.
Modest weight gain alters health
“Our study is the first to systematically examine the association of adult weight gain with major health risks later in life,” explained lead author Frank Hu, professor of nutrition and epidemiology and chairman of the Department of Nutrition. “The results indicate that even a modest amount of weight gain can have significant health consequences.”
The results of the study showed that for every five kilos gained, the risk of Type 2 diabetes increases by 30%, that of hypertension by 14% and by 8% for cardiovascular illnesses and 6% for cancer related toobesity. The risk of premature mortality was 5% higher even if the subjects had never smoked. In addition, this weight gain, even low over more than thirty years, was linked to a 17% reduction in the chances of aging in good health. “Preventing weight gain with a diet and a healthy lifestyle is of extreme importance,” said Yan Zheng, professor of epidemiology at Fudan University in China and author of the study.
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