The first step to longevity: eat a little fatter!

How fat is healthy?

——A well-proportioned body is definitely the healthiest!

——Being fatter is healthy, old people like to say, "Look how healthy this child is!"

——I want to be thinner. As the old saying goes, slimness in old age is more valuable than money.

A recent study provides the answer: according to current standards, being slightly plump may be the key to longevity.

Higher BMI, lower mortality?

A group of American scholars tracked and studied approximately 500,000 people of different genders, heights, weights, ages, and races for 20 years[1].

The study was done very carefully, taking into account whether or not people smoked and excluding individuals who died within the first two years of the study. But when the results came out, the researchers (and I) were still stunned:

Compared with people with a BMI (weight in kilograms divided by the square of height in meters) of 22.5 to 24.9, which is the standard body shape under American standards, obese people have a lower risk of death.

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People with a BMI between 25 and 27.4 have a 5% lower risk of death than those with a standard body shape;

For people with a BMI between 27.5 and 29.9, the risk of death was 7% lower.

What happened to the "standard" BMI that represents health? How come my risk of death is higher than others?

Well, the following conclusion may make you feel more comfortable: For people with a BMI greater than or equal to 30, the risk of all-cause mortality increases by 21% to 108%; a BMI less than 18.5 also significantly increases the risk of death.

One thing that needs to be explained is that the BMI standard adopted by the United States is slightly different from that in my country. Please choose the right one before taking your seat.

Slightly overweight people: I can handle it!

Why do slightly obese people have a lower risk of death than people with a perfectly normal body shape? The researchers put forward several ideas:

First, people with more body fat and muscle may have a survival advantage when facing some difficulties. For example, when they encounter accidental serious injuries, serious diseases, serious infections, etc., they need to consume a lot of energy and resources. At this time, the fat and lean meat in the body can help them survive a difficult period.

In other words, it is better to be thin when everything is safe and sound, and better to be fat when something unexpected happens.

I remembered what a friend who is a nurse in the ICU said: "Those skinny patients may not last a day or two. People still need to have some fat to get through the difficult times."

Secondly, people with a higher BMI are not necessarily unhealthy.

For example, Xiao Wang and Xiao Zhang are both 1.7 meters tall, weigh 80 kilograms, and have a BMI of 27.7, which is considered overweight - but Xiao Wang's weight may come from his strong tendon meat, while Xiao Zhang's weight is all made up of soft fat. Can the expected future health conditions of these two people, such as blood pressure, blood lipids and blood sugar levels, be compared?

Of two women of the same weight, which one looks healthier?

In addition, the researchers also suggested that diseases such as high blood pressure and diabetes are more aggressive and more difficult to treat for thin people because they cannot be like slightly overweight people, who can better control the disease or even completely reverse the disease simply by losing excess weight.

BMI is still very limited.

Maybe the BMI classification range should be changed. If it is still an indicator of health, then overweight people are not necessarily unhealthy!

Moreover, using only the BMI index to measure whether a person is obese or even healthy is actually very narrow.

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Just like the example just given, a person who exercises regularly and eats properly will grow more muscle, that is, "lean body mass", than the average person, and his BMI will easily show as overweight - but this does not mean bad news.

In addition, it is not appropriate for pregnant women and children to use the BMI index to measure whether their weight is normal.

Finally, in order to understand health status from the perspective of fat, other indicators should also be considered - such as waist circumference, body fat distribution, etc.

References

[1] Visaria A, Setoguchi S. Body mass index and all-cause mortality in a 21st century US population: A National Health Interview Survey analysis[J]. PloS one, 2023, 18(7): e0287218.

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Source: Guokr

Editor: Yinuo

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