Which risk of death is greater, fat or thin?

Being too fat is not good, and being too thin may not be good. Recently, the authoritative medical journal "Journal of the American Medical Association" published important results of epidemiological research jointly completed by Chinese and American scientists. This study revealed a "U"-shaped relationship between weight and death among China adults of different ages.

The study was co-led by Professor Gu Dongfeng from Fuwai Cardiovascular Hospital of China Academy of Medical Sciences, the Center for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention and Control of the Ministry of Health, and Dr. Jiang He from Tulane University in the United States. The study covered 169871 adults over the age of 40 in 17 provinces and cities across the country. It lasted for 10 years.

The study showed that the "U"-shaped relationship between body mass index [BMI= weight kilograms/height meter square] and all-cause mortality consistently exists in people aged 40 - 64 and over 65 years old, thus not supporting the traditional theory that "low-weight elderly people lead to a U-shaped relationship between BMI and all-cause mortality in the population." On the contrary, low weight among middle-aged people is also the cause of increased mortality.

The study found that among the China population, men with a BMI between 24.0 and 24.9 and women with a BMI between 25.0 and 26.9 have the lowest mortality rates. BMI of underweight people (Internship Editor: Jiang Yan)