Obese and overweight people can live as long as those with a normal weight. The question is, how disabled will they be?
研究发现：肥胖的人们可以跟正常体重的人们同样长寿。但问题在于：肥胖会在多大程度上给他们带来行动不便？
Published 06/12/2007
研究发现：肥胖的人们可以跟正常体重的人们同样长寿。但问题在于：肥胖会在多大程度上给他们带来行动不便？
There's some good news and some not so good news for the overweight and obese.
肥胖、健康与长寿
First the good news. Obese people are likely to live as long as people of normal weight – as long as they're fit. That's the finding of US researchers who studied 2, 603 people in their sixties and older over a 12-year period.
胡德良 译
Participants were measured for body weight, waist size and body mass index. (Body mass index, or BMI, is a figure calculated by dividing weight in kg by height in metres squared. Normal is 20 to 25; over 30 indicates obesity.) Each person had a battery of medical tests. They also underwent treadmill exercise testing to see how fit they were.
对于超重和过于肥胖的人们来说，既有好消息，也有不太好的消息。
It turned out that those who were most fit were much less likely to have diabetes, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure. And they were much more likely to be alive at the end of the study. Death rates for those at the highest fitness levels were less than half that of those at the lowest fitness levels.
同样长寿
But here's the interesting finding: among people who were fit, survival rates were similar for normal weight, overweight, and obese people.
先说好消息。只要健康，肥胖的人们很可能跟正常体重的人们同样长寿。这是美国研究人员所发现的，他们在12年的时间里，研究了2,603名60多岁及年龄更大人们。
In other words, a person's weight didn't affect their survival rates, but fitness levels did. The conclusion: if a person is overweight, they'll live as long as anyone else with a normal weight, as long as they're fit.
研究人员为研究对象测量了体重、腰围和体重指数（BMI）。体重指数是这样计算出来的：体重（公斤）除以身高（米）的平方。正常体重指数为22至25；超过30说明为肥胖。每个人都进行了一系列的体检，还经历了踏车体能测试，以查明他们的健康状况。
Older, but disabled
研究发现，那些最健康的人患糖尿病、高胆固醇和高血压的可能性要小得多，他们一直活到研究结束的可能性也大得多。健康水平最高的一组，其死亡率不到健康水平最低一组的一半。
Now for the not-so-good news. Other researchers from the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, agree that obese people can live as long as people with a normal weight. They say that survival rates for obese people have increased markedly since the 1960s, which they put down to better medical treatments for the conditions associated with it. The problem is, there's a greater chance they'll be living with disabilities than people of normal weight.
然而，有趣的发现在于：在健康人一组中，不管正常体重、超重、还是过于肥胖，生存率都是相同的。换句话说，人们的体重并不影响生存率，而健康水平却影响生存率。研究结论：一个人只要身体健康，即使超重，也可以跟任何正常体重的人一样长寿。
The researchers looked at 10, 000 people of various weight levels – some obese, some not. They measured their BMI, and also measured how well the subjects could cope with tasks of life – things like how well they could walk a quarter of a mile, walk up 10 steps, lift 10 weights, walk between rooms, and whether they had trouble moving from one place to another, eating, and dressing.
下面再说不太好的消息。美国费城宾夕法尼亚大学的另外一些研究人员也同意这个观点：肥胖的人可以跟正常体重的人同样长寿。他们指出，自从20世纪60年代以后，肥胖的人们生存率显著提高了，他们认为这是医疗条件的改善所致。问题是，跟正常体重的人们相比，肥胖的人更有可能在生活中行动不便。
Once a person's BMI got over about 30, they experienced a big jump in difficulties with these everyday tasks. For example, those with a BMI over 40 had between five and nine times the disability of those with a normal weight.
研究人员观察了10,000名不同体重的人，有些过于肥胖，有些并不过胖。研究人员测量了他们的体重指数，还检测了他们应付日常生活的能力，如：步行四分之一英里，爬上10个台阶，举起10个重物，在诸多房间之间来回走动，看看他们从一个地方到另一个地方移动的时候、吃饭、穿衣的时候是否有困难。
The disabilities were due to reduced mobility from a greater body mass, and from some of the conditions associated with obesity – things like musculoskeletal disorders (arthritis, back pain), reduced muscle strength and reduced heart and lung function.
一旦一个人的体重指数超过了30，他们在应付日常生活方面就陷入了极大的困难之中。例如，那些体重指数超过40 的人所遇到的行动不便是正常体重人们的5至9倍。
So yes, obese people are living longer, but their lives are still being affected by the disabilities associated with the condition, the researchers concluded.
较大的身体块头和肥胖引起的相关疾病，造成了灵活性的降低，产生了行动不便。与肥胖相关的疾病包括：肌肉与骨骼疾病（关节炎，背部疼痛）、肌肉力量的减弱、心肺功能的衰退等。
What it means is that the focus for someone who's overweight should be not just on living longer, but reducing the risk of disability in those later years.
研究人员得出结论说，肥胖的人们确实寿命更长了，但是身体状况所带来的行动不便仍然影响到他们的生活。这就意味着，对于超重的人来说，不能只注重长寿问题，还应该注重降低在晚年发生残疾的风险。
As the first study showed, some of the medical complications of obesity can be managed by keeping fit. Eating a healthy diet and having regular checks-ups with a doctor and any chronic medical conditions treated, will help.
就象第一个研究显示的那样，一些肥胖并发症可以通过保持身体健康得到解决。健康的饮食、定期找医生体检、医治慢性疾病也会减少并发症的发生。
Reducing the disability from larger than normal body mass requires not just fitness, but shedding body weight. That requires not just exercise but caloric restriction – a weight loss diet.
要想减少较胖的身体所带来的行动不便，不仅需要健康的体魄，还需要减轻体重。这就是说不仅要锻炼，而且还要控制热量摄入，要实行减肥饮食。
Interestingly, in the second study, disability became significant over a BMI of about 30, suggesting that obese people should aim to get below 30, and ideally even lower if possible.
需要注意的是，在第二项研究中发现，体重指数超过30就会带来明显的不便。这说明那些过胖的人们应该将体重指数目标定在30 以下，可能的话，再低一点就更理想了。
|
