Health, Longevity in Women Directly Related to BMI

While it’s definitely no secret that being thinner as opposed to carrying extra weight has it’s healht benefits, there’s never really conclusive evidence to show that the actual quality of life and survival rate is different among thin women vs. heavy women. There is now a conclusive study that shows in women, their healthy survival, that is, being able to live life free of mental issues and physical issues, is pretty much directly proportionate to their BMI, or Body Mass Index, which is a measurement used to compare body fat to other tissue like muscle in the body.

The higher your BMI, the more body fat you have, and the more likely you are to suffer from a variety of ailments and disease, or at least be significantly more predisposed to them, thus lowering your chances of having a healthy survival into your eighties, and even your seventies. Specifically, for every kilogram of BMI that was gained since the test subjects 18th year of age, their odds of even living to the age of seventy years old decreased by 5%.

When you multiply that out by years, that can significantly reduce your life expectancy estimate, so it’s obviously well worth making sure you are consistent with your diet and your lifestyle to maintain a certain healthy BMI level.

What the scientists who ran the study do caution of, is that you don’t regard seemingly harmless fluctuations in your weight and BMI as fairly meaningless, since the study’s results seem to point to the fact that all weight gains may impact your health and longevity. Men though are probably equally impacted by this BMI link, as fat does act pretty much the same way from male to female human bodies, but the study cited is that of women.

Their recommendation? Avoid weight gains if you can throughout your life and try to do everything in your power to prevent even those small fluctuations. Easier said than done, I know!