Diet Mail Diet Mail- June 2014, Summer Holidays Special | Seite 3

RECENT NUTRITIONAL STUDY
Weight loss at any age in adulthood can benefit
heart health
A new study from the UK suggests it is never too late for
adults to lose weight. No matter when in adulthood it
happens and even if the weight goes back on again, it can
still have a long-term beneficial effect on the heart and
cardiovascular system.
To arrive at their findings - which they report in The Lancet
Diabetes & Endocrinology - a team led by John Deanfield,
professor of cardiology at University College London
(UCL), examined the effect of lifelong patterns of weight
change on cardiovascular risk factors in over 1,200 British
men and women followed since birth in 1946.
As revealed in other studies, they found that the longer
individuals carried too much body fat (adiposity) in
adulthood, the greater their chances of developing
cardiovascular problems later in life. These include raised
systolic blood pressure, increased risk of diabetes, and
increased thickness of the wall of the carotid artery - a
predictor of heart disease and stroke.
Prof. Deanfield, who is also Director of the National Centre
for Cardiovascular Prevention and Outcomes at UCL, says:
"Our study is unique because it followed individuals for
such a long time, more than 60 years, and allowed us to
assess the effect of modest, real-life changes in adiposity."
Even if weight is put back on, drop in BMI can bring longterm cardiovascular benefit
However, for the first time, the study also shows that
individuals who drop in BMI category at any time in
adulthood - even if they put the weight back on later - can
reduce their long-term risk of cardiovascular problems.
"Our findings suggest that losing weight at any age can
result in long-term cardiovascular health benefits, and
support public health strategies and lifestyle
modifications that help individuals who are overweight or
obese to lose weight at all ages," notes Prof. Deanfield.
Seniors exercising.
New research finds that a reduction in BMI at any age
confers heart benefits.
A drop in BMI category is, for instance, from overweight
to normal or from obese to overweight.

BMI stands for Body Mass Index, a measure that is
widely used to define overweight and obesity. The
World Health Organization (WHO) have been using it
as the standard for recording obesity statistics since
the early 1980s. BMI is equal to a person's weight in
kilograms divided by their height in meters squared.
For adults:
BMI between 18.5 and 25