Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > Retirement
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 04-10-2015, 06:03 AM
 
11,170 posts, read 15,964,111 times
Reputation: 29874

Advertisements

Some good news for those people who've put on weight in middle age!

Being fat in middle age reduces risk of developing dementia, researchers say - The Washington Post
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 04-10-2015, 07:00 AM
 
Location: in the miseries
3,576 posts, read 4,497,795 times
Reputation: 4416
Overweight and obese are two different things.

The underweight probably aren't getting enough nutrition.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 04-10-2015, 07:12 AM
 
4,423 posts, read 7,349,600 times
Reputation: 10935
This is fine but being fat will reduce your life span. How many really fat older people do you see?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 04-10-2015, 10:01 AM
 
5,097 posts, read 6,333,694 times
Reputation: 11750
There was a PBS special, last year, very interesting about brain plaque, exercising eating habits etc.,. It was/still is a study of about 15,000 people followed from Leisure World over 20-30 years. ( I believe that long) Anyway... of the results, one of the things they found was that carrying an extra 10-15lbs., (approx.) was actually healthier. Yes, not obese, just the bit of extra.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 04-10-2015, 10:38 AM
 
5,097 posts, read 6,333,694 times
Reputation: 11750
I've emailed this to several friends.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 04-10-2015, 10:47 PM
 
1,999 posts, read 1,289,385 times
Reputation: 5031
Default See the abstract in Lancet.

Here is a link to the actual study. Sorry, only the abstract is free.
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/la...033-9/abstract

Here is a quote with numbers from the abstract:

"
Our cohort of 1 958 191 people from UK general practices had a median age at baseline of 55 years (IQR 45–66) and a median follow-up of 9·1 years (IQR 6·3–12·6). Dementia occurred in 45 507 people, at a rate of 2·4 cases per 1000 person-years. Compared with people of a healthy weight, underweight people (BMI <20 kg/m2) had a 34% higher (95% CI 29–38) risk of dementia. Furthermore, the incidence of dementia continued to fall for every increasing BMI category, with very obese people (BMI >40 kg/m2) having a 29% lower (95% CI 22–36) dementia risk than people of a healthy weight. These patterns persisted throughout two decades of follow-up, after adjustment for potential confounders and allowance for the J-shape association of BMI with mortality.
"

What they call underweight is a BMI of 20 or less gets a 34% risk increase.
At 6 feet tall, that would be 147 pounds.
At 5'6", that would be a weight of 124 pounds
Whoa, that's skinny for a guy. On my frame that's near zero body fat.

For the other end, a BMI of 40 gives the 29% risk reduction.
a person 6 feet tall would weigh 295 pounds
and 5'6" tall would weigh 248 pounds


Anyway, what is interesting is that beneficial effect (less dementia) increases steadily with BMI, so you don't have to have to get 40 BMI obese to benefit.

Notice that they are accounting for the, "J-shape association of BMI with mortality."
This means that the very fat don't get senile dementia as often because they are already dead.

For the numbers they gave, 2.4 cases in 1000 person years, being obese lowered that by 29%, so now we're talking about 1.7 per 1000 person years. I think I would shoot for being slightly overweight for a 10% dementia risk reduction instead of obese and a great increase in diabetes and worse.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 04-11-2015, 11:20 AM
 
Location: Central IL
20,726 posts, read 16,283,321 times
Reputation: 50370
Hmmmm...could it be that the weight at which dementia is lowest may NOT be the weight that is optimal for physical health? We really, really, REALLY want things to be simple, but biology and physiology are NOT. So pick which one you'd rather, or find something in the middle to split the difference.

There is seldom if ever a single best answer and you'll drive yourself crazy trying to find it.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 04-11-2015, 12:28 PM
 
496 posts, read 551,546 times
Reputation: 2156
Maybe one's appetite decreases when mental capacity declines.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 04-11-2015, 01:58 PM
 
Location: in the miseries
3,576 posts, read 4,497,795 times
Reputation: 4416
Quote:
Originally Posted by yourown2feet View Post
Maybe one's appetite decreases when mental capacity declines.
Seems true.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 04-11-2015, 03:52 PM
 
Location: Approximately 50 miles from Missoula MT/38 yrs full time after 4 yrs part time
2,308 posts, read 4,109,798 times
Reputation: 5025
Quote:
Originally Posted by MadManofBethesda View Post
Some good news for those people who've put on weight in middle age!

Being fat in middle age reduces risk of developing dementia, researchers say - The Washington Post
............So the question that arises as one enters "the twilight years" may be as simple as:.............................

Do you want to be "fat" and "sharp as a tack"....OR....."slim and trim" and "not know your ass from your elbow?"
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:

Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > Retirement

All times are GMT -6. The time now is 01:44 PM.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top