Women Warned: Eat Less or Weigh More
Calorie Cutback Cuts Women’s Odds of Middle-Age Weight Gain
Women who don’t try to eat less more than double their risk of substantial weight gain in middle age, a three-year study shows.
If you’re a 40-something woman, it doesn’t matter whether you’re thin or overweight — odds are, you’ll gain weight over time if you don’t make an effort to cut back on what you eat.
The finding comes from a study of 192 women with an average age of 40 by Brigham Young University researchers Larry A. Tucker, PhD, and Laura Bates. The women were not obese, had not yet reached menopause, and did not smoke.
At the start of the study the women underwent detailed physical exams, including measures of weight and body fat. They also underwent a seven-day analysis of the food they ate, in which they weighed and recorded every bit of food they put into their mouths.
Three years later, the women underwent another round of physical exams and food-intake analysis. The bottom line was no surprise: Women tend to gain weight and body fat as they age and become less physically active.
But not all women gained weight. Even if they didn’t exercise more, women who made an effort to eat less were 69% less likely to gain more than 2.2 pounds and were 2.4 times less likely to gain 6.6 pounds or more.
It’s never too soon, or too late, to watch what you eat, Tucker and Bates suggest.
January 5th, 2009 at 5:07 pm
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