We have shown the numbers for breast cancer: risk goes up with weight going up and risk goes down with weight going down. In the Nurses Health Study the benefit of weight loss was twice as powerful with 2% fewer cancers with a single pound lost and kept off. There are many other benefits of weight loss, but we will review two, today.
The top is the brain. In an article to be published in the Journal of the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery, Gunstad (a neuropsychologist) et al studied 150 people, comparing 109 bariatric surgery patients to 41 obese controls. Weight loss is dramatic after the surgery and only 12 weeks after the surgery they noted improved memory and concentration, measured by performance on cognitive testing. Imagine the application to voluntary weight loss!
Now near the bottom: the knees. The knees are among the most frequent joints involved by osteoarthritis. Felson, DT et al, published in Ann Intern Med 1992;116:535 the findings in a subgroup of patients with knee pain. Reports from the ongoing Framingham Study (www.framinghamstudy.org) have shown among other findings that cigarette smoking increases the risk of heart disease (in 1960) and physical activity was found to reduce the risk of heart disease and that obesity increases the risk of heart disease (in 1967). In 1992, they reported that weight loss reduces the risk of knee pain in 800 women. In this long term study, weight loss of 12 pounds or about 2 units on the BMI table, decreased symptomatic knee osteoarthritis by 50%. Imagine reducing pain without a pill!
So, there are two more reasons for pursuing that ideal body weight: from top to bottom; and in the middle fewer breast cancers.
No comments:
Post a Comment