Don’t fret too much about not losing those Christmas pounds: older adults have a bit more leeway regarding their weight.

Adapted from BMJ 22 July 2023

Now here is some news to cheer you all up.

Although we are always being told that having a BMI of 22.5 to 25 is optimal for most of a population’s health, this may not be as accurate as it could be.

A retrospective analysis of data from half a million adults in the USA found that those with a BMI of 25 to 30 had a lower all cause mortality.

In older adults there was no excess mortality until the BMI was above 35.

My comment: The BMI reading is designed for population studies and without specifically knowing about an individual, particularly about their bone and muscle mass, simple statements about BMI need thought about what it may mean to you. In general, wasting diseases, dementia, cancers and degenerative diseases tend to cause a steady fall in weight the longer the condition goes on. Thus there could be higher than expected mortality rate in thinner people. Muscle mass is related to greater fitness and longevity and is also correlated to bone mass. These can raise a person’s BMI to the 25+ and 30+ levels and be an indication of an extremely fit, well muscled person. You would expect someone like this to have a lower total mortality rate. Of course these people are rather rarer than the usual tubby individual who has a high individual BMI. Nonetheless this study seems to indicate that carrying a bit more muscle and fat than indicated by a BMI of 25 may not be such a bad thing after all, particularly if you are “older”. They didn’t say exactly what this meant. I would imagine over 55.