2023-07-06 14:30:00
People in overweight would not have a greater risk of death than people whose BMI is normal, according to a study by the Rutgers Institute for Health in the United States, a country particularly affected by overweight and obesity. The researchers analyzed data from 550,000 American adults between 1999 and 2018.
The results indicate that only obesity (BMI greater than 30) would be a risk factor for mortality. In obese people, “a increase from 21 to 108% mortality risk was observed,” says the study published in the journal Plos One (source 1). A person suffering from massive obesity (BMI greater than 40) even has twice the risk of dying than a person whose BMI is normal (between 18.5 and 25).
Even more surprising, overweight people even have a lower risk of death than people with a normal BMI. A person whose BMI is between 25 and 27.4 would have a 5% lower risk of death than a person with a normal BMI. A higher BMI, between 27.5 and 29.9, would even be associated with a lower risk of 7%.
The study also shows that in addition to obese people, being underweight (BMI less than 18.5) would also be associated with a greater risk of death compared to people with a normal BMI.
BMI, a critical calculation method
Beyond these results, the study mainly affects the BMI to indicate mortality risk. This indicator, even if it is globally used, is widely criticized for its lack of precision. To really estimate the impact of the weight on the health of a person, it is necessary to add many other information: the waist sizethe evolution of the weight or even the body distribution of the body fat are other essential indicators.
The study specifies that if these results differ from many other studies on the subject, it is in particular because today, diseases linked to overweight such as diabetes, hypercholesterolemia or hypertension are better better taken care of. In France, nearly one in two people is overweight or obese.
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