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Obesity-related conditions differ between men and women

31/10/2019

Obesity is worryingly common across the world today. World Health Organization statistics from 2018 show that global obesity has almost tripled since 1975 and most of the world’s population now live in a country where being overweight or obese kills more people than being underweight. But while obesity is known to increase a person’s risk of certain health conditions, new research has revealed that it does not seemingly affect men and women in the same way. According to the study from Oxford University in the United Kingdom, the findings of which are summarized in the journal PLOS Genetics, the risks of developing different health problems as a result of being obese are different for men and women. For example, obese women are at higher risk of developing type-2 diabetes than men. Meanwhile, obese men have a higher risk of chronic kidney disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The team says their findings add to the existing evidence that preventing and treating obesity is a crucial step in countering the emergence of other health conditions. “This study shows just how harmful carrying excess weight can be to human health, and that women and men may experience different diseases as a result,” said first author Dr. Jenny Censin. For the study, the team from Oxford University analyzed genetic information and three different obesity measures in a cohort of 195,041 men and 228,466 women.

High and low BMI linked to reduced life expectancy

31/10/2018

A new study, one of the largest of its kind, suggests being the wrong weight i.e. overweight or underweight cold knock four years off a person’s life expectancy. According to the study, the findings of which were published in the Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology journal, from the age of 40, people towards the higher end of the healthy Body Mass Index (BMI) range (a healthy BMI ranges from 18.5 to 25) had the lowest risk of dying from disease, including cancer and heart disease. In contrast, individuals who had BMI scores of less than 18.5 or more than 30 had life expectancies that were 4.4 years and 3.85 years shorter respectively. BMI scores, which are calculated by dividing a person’s weight (in kilograms) by their height (in metres squared), are still considered by health professionals to be the simplest and most accurate way to work out if someone is overweight or underweight. For the population-based cohort study, researchers analysed anonymised data on 3.6 million adults from the U.K. Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD). Dr Krishnan Bhaskaran, lead author of the study, said: “The most striking thing about our findings was how widely BMI was linked to different causes of death. BMI was associated with deaths from nearly all major causes.” He added that the research reinforces the importance of maintaining a healthy body weight. Perhaps the most interesting finding is that people who have low BMI scores are at as much risk, if not more, of reducing their life expectancies.

Childhood obesity rates now 10 times higher than they were in 1975

12/10/2017

A new report by Imperial College London in the United Kingdom, in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO), reveals that obesity in children is 10 times higher today than it was in 1975. Even more startling is the report’s prediction that within five years, more children will be obese than underweight. For the research, lead author Prof. Majid Ezzati, of the School of Public Health at ICL, and his team of over 1,000 researchers examined the body mass index (BMI) of almost 130 million people living in 200 countries, including 31.5 million individuals between 5 and 19 years old – making this study the largest of its kind. They found that total childhood obesity rates have risen globally by more than 10-fold in the past forty years. More specifically, in 1975, there were 5 million obese girls. In 2016, this number had risen to 50 million. A similar trend was found for boys, with 6 million obese in 1975 compared to 74 million in 2016. The researchers say that if the trend continues, there will be more obese children in the world than underweight ones by the end of 2020. Commenting on the findings, Prof. Ezzati said: “The trend predicts a generation of children and adolescents growing up obese and also malnourished. We need ways to make healthy, nutritious food more available at home and school, especially in poor families and communities, and regulations and taxes to protect children from unhealthy foods.” The findings of the study were published in The Lancet.

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