Women Get Heavier -- And Healthier -- As They Age

Posting Date: 05/17/2000

Researchers say obesity increases dramatically in educated women as they reach middle-age and older.

This data comes from the ongoing Nurses? Health Study and involves changes in women?s sizes between 1980 and 1994. Specifically, there was a 38 percent rise in body mass index greater than the norm, according to a report in Family Practice News.

On the bright side, the incidence of coronary heart disease among women ages 34-59 declined 31 percent during this same time period, researchers told a meeting of the American Heart Association.

Researchers say modifiable risk factors are what led to the decline of heart disease. These included a 41 percent drop in smoking, a 175 percent increase in hormone replacement therapy among postmenopausal women and dietary changes that included more fiber, fish oil and folate and less saturated and trans-fatty acids.

This report shows how strange things are getting. Women are getting healthier at the same time they?re getting heavier, which shows that body size may not be an accurate predictor of how well we?re doing.

Source: Family Practice News, April 15, 2000

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