Weight Loss and Mortality

Weight cycling, that is, gaining and losing weight over time, has been linked to excess mortality. The studies reported in the supplement to this issue further evaluated the relation among weight loss, weight cycling, and health. The mortality rate was higher among persons who either lost weight or had weight cycling. The reasons for the weight loss or weight cycling were not determined. The association across varying levels of body mass index (BMI) and the findings that the negative effects of weight cycling are greatest in persons with the lowest BMIs suggest that the weight loss was not all voluntary. Attempts were made to adjust for comorbidity and cigarette smoking. The probability is strong that clinical or subclinical disease, other lifestyle changes, or psychosocial factors such as depression accounted for weight loss, weight cycling, and the increased mortality rate.

Disease appears to be epidemic among persons who are at the lower end of the distribution of many biological variables or in whom levels decrease below a critical point. Treatment of hypertension may result in a reduction in blood pressure to below a critical level, the J point, resulting in an increase rather than a decrease in the risk for heart attack [1]. Lowering the blood cholesterol level has been reported to increase the risk for being murdered, committing suicide, and having a hemorrhagic stroke [2]. A low serum albumin level has been identified as a risk factor for cardiovascular disease and probably cancer [3]. Low levels of antioxidant vitamins in the plasma may increase the risks for both heart attack [4] and cancer [5]. Short stature may be a risk factor for heart attack in men and probably in women as well [6, 7]. If a man loses his hair at a relatively early age, …