Overweight people are sicker
late in life than normal-weight people and die
prematurely, a new study shows.
Researchers at Columbia University
in New York found that overweight and obese women
spend an average of three more years in ill health
than normal-weight women. Heavy men, on average,
are sicker one more year than their thinner counterparts.
Heavy people are more likely
to suffer from pain, arthritis, type 2 diabetes,
heart disease and other illnesses that may affect
their ability to perform daily tasks such as bathing
and getting dressed, the research shows.
The researchers looked at
the medical expenditure records of 13,600 people
from 2000 and the death certificates of 84,000
people from the 1990s.
The findings in September's
American Journal of Public Health showed
that even overweight women under 45 have many
more medical issues, such as depression, than
do normal-weight women.
Heavy women "are bombarded
with negative messages by friends, relatives and
advertisements, which might be causing them to
become stressed, depressed and sick," says lead
study author Peter Muennig, assistant professor
of health policy at Columbia.
If obesity trends in this
country continue, life expectancy might eventually
fall because of the high rates of obesity among
children, Muennig says.
About 136 million U.S. adults
are overweight or obese, according to government
data. Health experts consider a person obese if
he or she is 30 or more pounds over a healthy
weight; overweight is 1 to 29 pounds over that
standard. About a third of children and teens,
or 25 million kids, are overweight or at risk
of becoming so.
Obesity can make people feel
years older than their age, says Roland Sturm,
a senior economist with the RAND Corp. who has
done several studies on obesity's impact on quality
of life.
"An obese 30-year-old has
as many chronic conditions as a normal-weight
50-year-old and reports quality of life that is
worse than a 50-year-old," he says.
Eric Finkelstein, a health
economist with non-profit research firm RTI International,
says heavy people may resist efforts to slim down.
"Clearly, obesity causes
health problems. However, losing weight and maintaining
it has its own costs because you have to diet
and exercise. And the reality is that many people
may not want to pay that price."
Adds Sturm: "Maybe we should
start by trying to create an environment that
prevents obesity in the first place, especially
for children."
