According to a recent study, obesity in adolescent girls may increase the risk for multiple sclerosis later in life. For the study, researchers examined data collected from more than 238,000 women who participated in the Nurses' Health Study I (beginning in 1976) and the Nurses' Health Study II (beginning in 1989).
Participants, who were between 25 and 55 years old when the studies began, were tracked for more than 40 years from both groups combined. Participants self-reported their height and weight at the start of the study, and what their height and weight had been at age 18.
Approximately 593 women developed multiple sclerosis during the two studies. Researchers found that women who reported a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or higher (considered obese) were more than twice as likely to develop multiple sclerosis as women who reported a BMI between 18.5 and 20.9 at age 18. Normal weight is considered to be a BMI between 18.5 and 24.9. Being obese at the start of the study, however, was not linked to increased likelihood of developing multiple sclerosis.
Researcher Kassandra Munger, ScD, of Harvard School of Public Health commented in a news release on the results of the study: "Our results suggest that weight during adolescence, rather than childhood or adulthood, is critical in determining the risk of MS. Teaching and practicing obesity prevention from the start, but especially during teenage years, may be an important step in reducing the risk of MS later in life for women."
(Source: www.webmd.com)
Posted By: Aspen Education Group