Living to the ripe old age of 90 may depend on your body size -- both height and weight -- as well as your level of physical activity, and seems to influence a woman's lifespan more than it does a man's, according to a new study published Monday in the medical journal BMJ. The study found women who lived to 90 were, on average, taller and had put on less weight since the age of 20 as compared to women who were shorter and heavier. No such association was seen for men. However, men saw more benefit from physical activity than women. While the study is observational and cannot establish cause, the findings "provide interesting hints that men's and women's health might respond differently to BMI, height and exercise," said epidemiologist David Carslake, a senior research associate at the University of Bristol in the UK, who was not involved in the study. BMI, which stand for body mass index, is a measurement of body fat based on a calculation of height and weight. A large, longitudinal … [Read more...] about How likely are you live to 90? Depends on your gender and body size
Centers for disease control and prevention obesity
Teen obesity tied to increased risk of pancreatic cancer
Teen obesity has been linked with many health problems later in life, and a large Israeli study suggests increased risk for deadly pancreatic cancer is one of them. (Photo: AFP/Paul Ellis) Researchers followed nearly 2 million men and women for more than 20 years. Compared to participants with normal weight as teens, men who were obese as adolescents had more than three times the risk of pancreatic cancer in adulthood, and obese teen girls had more than four times the risk. While obesity has long been considered a risk factor for pancreatic cancer, the strength of this association and the underlying causes for the connection are less clear. The current study doesn't prove obesity causes these tumors, or that weight early in life impacts the development of cancer decades later, but it does add to the lengthy list of potential health benefits of avoiding excess weight during childhood and adolescence, said Dr Chanan Meydan of the Mayanei HaYeshua Medical Center in Bnei Brak, … [Read more...] about Teen obesity tied to increased risk of pancreatic cancer
Vietnam reports first human death of swine flu in years
A medical center in Ho Chi Minh said on Friday that one of its patients who died on May 30 had tested positive for influenza virus A/H1N1, making her the first swine flu casualty reported in the country in the past couple years. The 26-year-old woman passed away after she attempted self-treatment at home for five days, according to Nguyen Tri Dung, director of the Preventive Medicine Center of Ho Chi Minh City. This is the first casualty from swine flu reported in Vietnam since a 30-year-old man died in the central beach town Nha Trang in February 2014. After eight days of monitoring, doctors have found no new case of swine flu in the woman's neighborhood or at hospitals where she had received treatments. Cho Ray Hospital, the largest general hospital in HCMC, is also treating a 49-year-old male patient for a severe case of the disease. The man was transferred from the south central province of Binh Thuan and has a history of diabetes, while the dead woman had obesity. Both conditions … [Read more...] about Vietnam reports first human death of swine flu in years
Vietnam reports first human death of swine flu in 2018
A medical center in Ho Chi Minh said on Friday that one of its patients who died on May 30 had tested positive for swine flu, or influenza A/H1N1. The 26-year-old woman passed away after she attempted self-treatment at home for five days, according to Nguyen Tri Dung, director of the Preventive Medicine Center of Ho Chi Minh City. After eight days of monitoring, doctors have found no new case of swine flu in the woman's neighborhood or at hospitals where she had received treatments. This is the first casualty from swine flu reported in Vietnam this year. Cho Ray Hospital, the largest general hospital in HCMC, is also treating a 49-year-old male patient for a severe case of the disease. The man was transferred from the south central province of Binh Thuan and has a history of diabetes, while the dead woman had obesity. Both conditions have been identified among factors that would put one under higher risk of infection or complications from the disease. Neither patient caught the flu … [Read more...] about Vietnam reports first human death of swine flu in 2018