Research has shown that increase in weight during early or middle adulthood is one of the major factors of health issues.
According to a recent study from experts at the Harvard T.H Chan School of Public Health it has been revealed that noticeable weight gain over the course of an adult’s life can increase the potential of having health problems later in life. It was realised that compared to adults who had their weight stable during their middle years, adults that gained more weight in the range of 5 to 22 pounds before reaching 55 years of age increased their chances of getting chronic diseases, premature ill health and also reduced their potential of healthy ageing. It was discovered that weight gain has direct impact on an adult having chronic diseases.
One of the experts said ‘Our research is the first to systematically look into the connection between weight gain from early to middle adulthood and the potential of experiencing major health issues later in life’. The results found shows that even a moderate increase in weight can cause important health issues.
Healthy ageing, eating healthily.
A lot of people gain rapid weight during their young and middle adulthood. Most of the time, a lot of them do not notice that they are really gaining weight over the years, and even their doctor can fail to notice. But the high cumulative weight gain through the years of adulthood can make them vulnerable to health issues later on in life.
The experts analysed the health statistics of 118,140 study participants, which includes 92,837 women in the Nurses’ Health Study between the years 1976 and 2012, and also 25,303 men in the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study between 1986 and 2012. The Participants were asked to try to recall their weight from their early adulthood which is age 18 for women, and 21 for men and then to report their weight at age 55. Most of the women accumulated an average weight of 22 pounds through their early to middle adulthood, while the men reported average weight gain of 19 pounds.
This data was used to compare with those that had moderate commode weight stability through their early to middle adulthood and it was realised that the former group (that gained moderate amount of weight) had a noticeable increase of major health issues and premature death and also did not do well on a health ageing assessment which was based on physical and mental health.
In a more extensive analysis of both sides, it was realised that those who gained weight of 11 pounds over the early to middle to adulthood had a 30% increase of having Type 2 diabetes, 14% increase of having hypertension, 8% increase of experiencing cardiovascular disease, 6% increase in the chances of having cancer in connection with obesity, other noticeable increase includes 5% of dying prematurely among people that have never smoked, and 17% increase in the chances of experiencing healthy ageing.
It is believed that these findings will assist a lot of health experts to advise patients about the dangers and risks of weight gain. The researchers concluded that monitoring weight gain by eating healthily and living a healthy lifestyle is very crucial to healthy ageing.
Andrea Parker is a reporter for Zobuz. She previously worked at Huffington Post and Vanity Fair. Andrea is based in NYC and covers issues affecting her city. In addition to her severe coffee addiction, she’s a Netflix enthusiast, a red wine drinker, and a voracious reader.
