Are You Chubby? You Might Just Live Longer!
Tokyo, Japan- a new study shows that slightly chubby people live longer than those who are skinny, and having a thinner frame can actually be a greater health risk.
According to the new research submitted to the World Health Organization, people who are slightly overweight by the age of 40 tend to live sixe to seven years longer than thinner people, whose typical life expectancy was shorter by around five years than obese people.
Shinichi Kuriyama, leader of the study and associate professor of the Tohoku University’s Graduate School of Medicine, says that “skinny people run the highest risk” of having a shorter lifespan. He and his colleagues focused on a long-term study of middle-aged and elderly persons. “We had expected thin people would show the shortest life expectancy but didn’t expect the difference to be this large.”
The study was done by a health ministry team led by Ichiro Tsuji, a Tohoku University professor, and it covered around 50,000 people aged between 40 and 79 for more than 12 years. The study was held at the Miyagi prefecture in northern Japan.
“There had been an argument that thin people’s lives are short because many of them are sick or smoke. But the difference was almost unchanged even when we eliminated the factors,” says Kuriyama.
Among the main reasons for shorter life expectancies among thinner people include their increased vulnerability to diseases such as pneumonia, and weaker, more fragile blood vessels, says the research.
However, Kuriyama says he does not recommend people to eat as much as they want.
“It’s better that thin people try to gain normal weight, but we doubt it’s good for people of normal physique to put on more fat,” he explains.
The research further divided the people into four different weight categories at age 40, based on their body mass index or BMI. The BMI calculates the person’s weight in kilograms divided by their squared height in meters.
The normal BMI range is 18.5 to 25, while being thin is categorized falling below 18.5. A BMI of 25 to 30 is classed as slightly overweight, while an index of 31 and above are considered obese.
Given so, what you should therefore aim when aspiring for a good physique and a healthy body is not necessarily trying to achieve a perfect figure, but rather focusing on getting a normal body mass index, above anything else. By being and staying normal, you have better chances in working out to a great body figure, while at the same time maintaining your normal vital signs. You will also have greater chances of living longer than you expected, as compared to being thin or being obese.
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