A recent study carried out by the universities of Melbourne and Deakin (Australia) has determined that people over 65 with a body mass index (BMI) in the overweight range, live longer than those with a healthy weight .
Overweight is defined when a person’s BMI is equal to or greater than 25 , leaving the normal weight or healthy BMI between 18.5 and 24.9. The reason for this new statement, which runs counter to the World Health Organization guidelines, is based on an experiment carried out by a team of Australian researchers and the results of which have been published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition .
For the study, the scientists analyzed the results of previous studies published between 1990 and 2013 that examined the relationship between BMI and risk of death in people 65 and older. In total, 200,000 records were analyzed with an average follow-up of 12 years . The exam revealed that people 65 and older with an overweight BMI had a lower risk of death than people with a healthy BMI. So much so, that people with a BMI between 23 and 33 lived longer .
The outline of the results was as follows:
– The risk of death increased by 12 when the BMI was between 21 and 22 (close to the middle of the healthy weight range)
– The risk of death increased by 19 when the BMI was between 20 and 20.9 (still within the healthy weight range)
– The risk of death increased by 8 when the BMI was between 33 and 33.9 (in the obese range).
According to the researchers, these results confirm that older people with a BMI less than 23 are at greater risk of dying and that the ideal body weight for the elderly cannot be the same as that stipulated for the rest of the population, therefore Health tips and guidelines for this age range should be reviewed.
