It is often believed that obesity increases the risks of heart diseases, type 2 diabetes, and other forms of illness, but a recent finding has suggested that obesity may not effect an individual’s health until after age 40.

This finding was disclosed after comparing medications taken by normal weight, overweight, and obese Americans (8,880 men and 9,071 women) ages 25 to 70 and participating in National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys from 1988-1994 and 2003-2006.

From NYtimes.com:

While obese people of all ages took slightly more medications than those of normal weight, the differences were mainly among adults 40 and older, according to the study, published in the International Journal of Obesity.

For example, 28.7 percent of obese men and 25.2 percent of normal weight men ages 25 to 39 took medications. But among those 40 to 54, 60 percent of obese men were on medication, compared with 39.3 percent of men of average weight.

The differences in medications taken by normal weight adults and those considered merely overweight were small at all ages, the researchers found.

Brant Jarrett, a graduate student who was the study’s lead author, said one message from the paper was that body mass index that is often considered as the formula for assessing weight status is imperfect when it comes to measuring accurately in terms of risk factors or current health.

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