Having a pronounced thinness for health can be no less dangerous than obesity – it turned out that both of these factors shorten life. Lancet magazine published the results of a study based on data from almost 2 million patients in Britain: according to these figures, a lack of body mass as well as an excess of body mass can lead to a four-year reduction in life canadianpharmtabs.com.
The researchers carefully studied the effects of leanness and obesity on life expectancy, and it turned out that thinness can shorten life no worse than excessive body weight. Scientists have concluded that for health and long life it is most useful to have weight within the normal range, but at the same time be closer to more rounded forms than to thin ones. In particular, experts stated that “people over 40 years old with a body mass index closer to the upper limit of normal are at least the risk of falling ill with a fatal illness.”
The body mass index (BMI) is calculated as the ratio of body weight to height (the ratio of body weight in kilograms to the square of height in meters). Normal BMI scores are from 18.5 to 25, these are WHO recommendations.
The authors of the new work found that with a body mass close to the lower mark of this norm, the risk of disease in humans is higher.
They stated: “Patients whose body mass index approaches the lower limit of normal are more at risk for various serious diseases.”
In particular, the researchers’ calculations suggest that thinness and obesity (that is, low and high BMI) correlate with the growing risk of life-threatening diseases such as cancer, as well as the pathology of the cardiovascular system.
“The risk of fatal diseases will increase both in the case of BMI values above the norm, and in severe thinness when the BMI is below the norm,” co-author Krishnan Bhaskaran commented on this.
In addition, it turned out that very thin people, like people with obesity, are more prone to colds than others. Also in the report of scientists says that extra pounds are not dangerous for the elderly, because in old age, an increase in body weight becomes a protective factor for the body.
Skinny shortens life on a par with obesity
