Does weight loss up death risk for obese people?

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – It may run counter to advice
from almost every quarter, but a Finnish study suggests that
losing weight may not be wise for overweight people.

The results indicate that the likelihood of dying over a
24-year period associated with deliberate weight loss is on a
par with that associated with weight gain among overweight or
obese individuals.

The researchers propose studies to “assess if the optimal
strategy among already overweight individuals could be to avoid
further weight gain. If this is true,” they add, “it puts a
major emphasis on the need for prevention of development of
overweight and obesity.”

Previous studies have reported a link between weight loss
and increased death risk. Dr. Jaakko Kaprio, from the
University of Helsinki, and colleagues theorized that this may
be due to other, ultimately fatal, diseases that also caused
unintentional weight loss.

To look into the possibility, the team studied participants
in the Finnish Twin Cohort, but excluded subjects with any
recognized chronic disease that could induce weight loss.

The subjects, who were born in Finland before 1958, were
surveyed in 1975 and in 1981. The 1975 questionnaire asked
about current attempts to lose weight, while the 1981
questionnaire documented changes in weight. The subjects were
followed until death or the end of 1999.

According to the investigators’ report in PLoS Medicine,
the final group included 2957 subjects who were overweight or
obese in 1975. Two hundred sixty-eight of these subjects died
during follow-up.

Individuals who lost or gained weight between 1975 and 1981
were roughly 40 percent more likely to die than those who kept
a steady weight. Moreover, intentional weight loss raised the
risk of death by 87 percent compared with maintaining a steady
weight.

The researchers discuss numerous possibilities to explain
their findings, and say more research is needed before the
results “can be used as basis for advice about intentional
weight loss in the large population of otherwise healthy
overweight and obese individuals.”

SOURCE: PLoS Medicine, June 2005.