Last Updated: 2002-12-09 17:00:27 -0400 (Reuters Health)

By Suzanne Rostler

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Men who lose weight only to gain it all back might become frustrated over time but they are not at increased risk of dying, a new study reports.

The findings contradict those of other studies suggesting that weight fluctuation, also known as "yo-yo dieting," or weight cycling, can increase the risk of dying from heart disease and other causes. These findings raised concern that weight loss attempts among older adults may cause harm.

But in the current report, weight fluctuation in otherwise healthy men was not a risk factor for death.

"Our findings suggest that the increased mortality risk associated with weight loss and weight cycling is determined to a large extent by disadvantageous lifestyle factors and pre-existing ill health," Dr. S. Goya Wannamethee from the Royal Free and University College in London, told Reuters Health.

"There is no firm evidence that weight cycling per se is harmful," he added.

The results are based on information from more than 5,600 middle-aged men attending a general practice in one of 24 British towns. Researchers recorded their weight changes over 12 to 14 years, and death rates over the following 8 years.

Healthy men whose weight cycled over the study period were no more likely to die during the study than their peers with more stable weights, according to the report in the Archives of Internal Medicine for December 9/23.

Men with a preexisting disease, such as cancer or heart problems, were 50% more likely to die when their weight fluctuated, compared with men with more stable weights. But when the researchers accounted for preexisting disease, there was no relationship between weight fluctuation and death.

The results underscore the importance of weight loss for men who are overweight and obese. Excess body weight has been shown to raise the risk for myriad health problems such as high blood pressure, heart disease, type 2 diabetes and, according to another study in the same journal, stroke.

"These findings have important clinical and public health implications and should reassure overweight and obese men that intentional weight loss or weight cycling in middle age and older age is not harmful," said Wannamethee.

In other findings, men who gained up to 15% of their body weight during the following 12 to 14 years also had no increased risk of death. Long-term smokers who lost weight over the years were more likely to die from all causes, but these men tended to be sick to begin with. Men who had quit smoking since the initial exam and whose weight fluctuated were more likely to die, mostly due to heart disease, the investigators found.

"The mortality pattern in recent ex-smokers reflects the high prevalence of preexisting disease in these subjects," the researchers explain.

Indeed, more than half of these men had been diagnosed with heart disease or cancer, or were in otherwise poor health.

SOURCE: Archives of Internal Medicine 2002;162:2575-2580.


http://www.reutershealth.com/archiv...209elin032.html

This is interesting.. Very..
I wonder how long it will take to float over to women !
Poofie!

This is great news. Does this mean that I am not dead yet? I was looking a little pale this morning, but maybe that was just the cold weather.

However on a more serious note when I was putting on weight my blood pressure did begin to rise to the very high side of normal and only began to reduce once I started to low carb. It is now as normal as normal can be.

I always though that the risk of dying was 100%. When it may happen might be more difficult to predict and just may have something to do with "him upstairs"