Body Mass Index Bmi

Gastric bypass surgery for weight loss is as safe for the elderly as it is for younger patients, researchers said Monday. Several small studies reported previously have yielded mixed results about safety in those over 65, but a new study on a much larger group of patients finds no increased risk from the procedure. Elderly patients do end up spending more time in the hospital after the surgery, however, said Dr. Robert B. Dorman of the University of Minnesota at a Digestive Diseases Week meeting in Chicago.

The body mass index (BMI) isn't a perfect measure for obesity. Convenience and routine are on its side -- so health experts aren't likely to stop using it any time soon -- but its limitations have got some doctors thinking … . In a study published online Monday in the journal Pediatrics, researchers at the University of Michigan's Mott Children's Hospital found measurements of neck circumference to be a reliable technique...

People whose body mass index is considered normal and healthy may want to think twice about that designation if their waist-to-hip ratio is more suggestive of an apple than a pear, a new study from the Mayo Clinic finds. Normal-weight Americans with an accumulation of fat around the middle were more likely to die of heart disease, and of any other cause, during a 14-year study period than were people whose BMI categorized them as obese but who were more pear-shaped. In fact, they had the highest risk of cardiovascular death of all the categories, including people whose BMIs identified them as overweight or obese.

Men and women, particularly those categorized as obese, have grown increasingly likely over the years to underestimate their true weight, according to a recent study. In a paper published Wednesday in the journal PLoS ONE, researchers at University College of Cork examined height and weight data for Irish adults over a nine-year period. In three separate health surveys, men and women were asked to estimate their height and weight, and those figures were used to calculate body mass index, or BMI. Afterward, they were weighed and measured for accuracy.  What researchers discovered was that while people routinely misjudged their true dimensions, their weight estimates had grown increasingly inaccurate over time.

If primary care doctors build intensive counseling programs to help their obese patients exercise, lose weight and get healthy, will they work? A new study finds that for half the population, at least, they will. For men and women alike, results will be modest. And for women, they won't last. The authors of the study, published Monday in the Archives of Internal Medicine, concluded that physicians' efforts to improve their obese patients' health by promoting lifestyle change might do better to embrace "a more realistic expectation": a modest reduction of patients' waist circumference and the prevention of further weight gain.

As you gaze across the bountiful Thanksgiving offerings on your table this year, be grateful for the life-extending benefits of orange. Orange as in alpha-carotene. Orange as in pumpkin, carrots and squash, the foods richest in this phytonutrient. A study published this week found that people whose blood levels measured highest for alpha-carotene were least likely to die of cancer, cardiovascular disease, or indeed of any cause, during an 18-year period. Levels of alpha-carotene are likely a surrogate measure for high consumption of fruits and vegetables, generally, since, in addition to the orange foods, dark green vegetables (such as broccoli, green beans, peas, spinach, kale, collard greens and lettuce)

What's new: Obesity appears to increase a person's chances of cognitive decline in old age -- but so, paradoxically, does weighing too little for one's height. The finding: People who maintain a healthy weight have a lower risk of dementia compared with those who are underweight or obese, according to a study by researchers at Johns Hopkins University and the University of Iowa, published in the journal Obesity Reviews last month.

Losing weight might not only help your waistline, but just maybe your memory too. A new, small study would seem to suggest that obese patients who have their fat surgically removed show improvements in memory and concentration when compared to obese people who didn't have surgery. Researchers from Kent State University in Ohio gave a cognitive and memory test to 150 obese patients in New York and North Dakota. The tasks involved navigating through computer mazes and recalling word lists and as many animal names as possible in 60 seconds.

The easiest way to assess your heart disease risk may be to measure your waist. A study of more than 9,000 white men and women found that the thickness of a person's midsection is more closely associated with other risk factors, such as cholesterol and glucose levels and blood pressure, than body mass index, or BMI. BMI, which is based on height and weight, has been used since the 1980s to estimate the risk of obesity-related diseases.

More than a third of 3-year-olds in low-income households in major U.S. cities are overweight or obese, according to a new study that supports the notion that the struggle with obesity often begins in early childhood. Latino children were most at risk, with 45% either overweight or obese, compared with 32% of white and African American children.