Newsletter

SURPRISE!  Ten Myths That Can Trip You Up!

#1 – It’s okay for older people to be overweight, “Extra pounds May Carry Certain Benefits.”

• In an analysis of nearly 37,000 participants in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, the obese had a higher risk of dying of diabetes, heart disease and several cancers.
• People who were not quite as heavy – the merely overweight – had no higher risk of dying to cancer or heart disease than people who were normal weight.
• “Extra weight means longer life” may make eye-catching headlines.  But it’s always a suspicious finding.
• “Measuring weight at midlife may be a more reliable measure because older people have already lost muscle mass and many have lost weight due to chronic diseases.”
• Once people are older, it’s not so much weight, but how much muscle they’ve lost and how much fat they’ve gained, that may matter.
• In ca recent study, older men with the largest arm circumference (a sign of greater muscle mass) and the smallest waists had the lowest risk of dying.
• And, for many people, overweight is just a stepping stone on the road to obesity.

 

*A NEW MYTH TO COME EVERY MONTH*