Extra Pounds Earlier In Life Linked With Later Mobility Trouble

If you’re carrying a bit more weight than you should be (or you did when you were younger), this may increase your risk for physical disabilities as you get older.

This finding is as the result of a new study from Sticht Center on Aging at Wake Forest University School of Medicine. It is worth recognizing that the elderly population in the United States is increasing all the time (expected to be about 20% of the adult population by 2030), therefore problems with mobility may well be a major concern for all of us.

The study, appears in the April 15, 2009 issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology.

The study analyzed data collected in the Health, Aging and Body Composition study and the subjects were a group of Medicare recipients in Pennsylvania and Tennessee recruited between April 1997 and June 1998.

To be included in the study the subjects had to be living in the community and healthy – free of life threatening illness. There were a total of 2,845 subjects, of an average age of 74 years old.

“In both men and women, being overweight or obese put them at greater risk of developing mobility limitations in old age, and the longer they had been overweight or obese, the greater the risk,” declared lead investigator Denise Houston.

Houston is a recognized expert on aging and nutrition, as well as assistant professor of gerontology at Wake Forest University School of Medicine.

For purposes of this research, mobility was defined as an inability to walk a quarter mile, or climb ten steps.

None of the participants had any of these issues at the beginning of the study. Any new mobility issues were reported during twice yearly follow up for the 7 years of the study.

Using the participants body mass index (BMI) at different age intervals, the study found that a woman who were overweight from her mid-20s to her 70s was close to three times more likely to have mobility issues than women who maintained a healthy weight.

Men’s risk was just a bit less – about 1.6 times more likely to develop mobility troubles, according to the study.

Also, the study found that women who were obese (BMI of 30) at age 50, but had reduced their BMI by the time they reached their 70s, were still 2.7 times more likely to have mobility problems compared to women who were not obese at any time.

For men under the same circumstances, the risk was 1.8 times greater for mobility limitations than men who’d never been obese.

Your doctor will tell you that added weight puts extra strain on your joints, can keep you from exercising and be a factor that contributes to chronic conditions – things like heart disease, arthritis or diabetes. These three have been directly linked with limitations in mobility.

If you’re thinking you have plenty of time to drop the extra weight the research found that this may not be the case.

Often weight loss occurs later in life, usually the result of some underlying medical condition, after years of being overweight has already damaged joints, and lack of exercise has your body weak and wobbly.

Your best bet is to lose the excess weight as soon as you can, and get active so that you work to build-up your joints, muscle strength and overall health.

Next – just head on over to the Daily Health Bulletin for more information on obestity health problems and mobility, plus for a limited time get 5 free fantastic health reports. Click here for an automated video on this obesity health and mobility study.