We know that making healthy choices like eating more vegetables and exercising regularly is good for our bodies and can lower risk of diseases, give us more energy and sometimes a slimmer figure as well. But new research finds another benefit to losing weight: doing it by a certain age could help lower the risk of early death. According to astudyout this month from Boston University School of Public Health, shedding those pounds my midlife is the key.
The long-term study of more than 24-thousand people finds that participants whose BMIs went from the “obese” range in early adulthood down to the “overweight” range by midlife cut their risk of dying early way down. The folks who got their BMI down to under 25 – which is still considered overweight – had a 54% lower mortality risk!
So what is “midlife?”The study considers it to be about 44 years old, or a range between 37 and 55. And timing seems to be everything here as the study shows losing weight after midlife didn’t significantly lower participants’ risk of death. Researchers say the results show how important it is to reduce obesity early in life, especially because obesity now affects so many young people.