Word: agee
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...report adds to the ongoing scientific debate over how to define ideal weight in adults and whether the widely used measure of weight categories - body mass index (BMI), a measure of body fat based on a ratio of weight and height - is equally useful for all age groups. The World Health Organization defines normal weight as a BMI of 18.5 to 24.9 kg/m2; overweight is defined as a BMI of 25 to 29.9 kg/m2. A BMI of 30 or higher is considered obese, and under 18.5 underweight...
...mortality, which the researchers grouped together as cardiovascular disease, cancer, chronic respiratory disease or other. In all weight categories, the leading causes of death were cardiovascular disease and cancer. The lowest risk of death from either cause occurred in overweight adults. (See a guide to preventing illness at any age...
...exactly excess weight would protect older adults is unclear, but the study's lead author, Leon Flicker, a professor of geriatric medicine at the University of Western Australia, offers a theory. "We can only hypothesize, but it may be that as we age, the presence of nutritional and metabolic reserves [that is, fat] are advantageous. If you develop an illness, a little more reserve gives you a greater chance to recover from that illness," he says...
Where researchers may agree is that BMI is an unreliable marker for body fat, or health, in the elderly. As people age, they lose muscle mass and bone density, which leads to weight loss and a declining BMI, despite an increase in body fat. Manson suggests measuring waist circumference instead, which is a more accurate gauge of abdominal obesity and tends to predict a higher risk of death in all age groups...
...mean, seriously. The other day I was sitting on an airplane, watching the usual slice of America attempt to squeeze derrières far too large into seats far too small. In the age of the seat belt extender, this is hardly an unusual sight. But just before takeoff, there was a rotund man rolling a wheelie suitcase down the aisle in way-too-tight pants. What was he wearing? You guessed it—sheaths of spandexy “denim” someone told him counted as jeans...