“Family and friends tell me that I have to lose weight because I’m a little fat. At over 40 years old, do I have any risk of having diabetes? I have a friend who suffers a lot from this disease and doesn’t want to go through the same thing.” Susana Castro, Vigo .
Diabetes is closely linked to the body mass index (BMI) of women over 40 years of age.
If you are a woman, over 40 years old, your body mass index (BMI) can be an indicator of your risk of suffering from type II diabetes mellitus in the next 8 years. Diabetes mellitus is closely related to obesity and the degree of body mass in women.
This is the result of a study carried out by the University of Queensland in which 7,239 women were followed for 8 years (between 1996 and 2004), women who were in an age range between 45 and 50 years.
Overweight women are 12 times more likely to have diabetes. According to the results, those women who considered themselves overweight or obese and who had a body mass index of 25 or higher had a much higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes, but that risk is even higher in those women who have body mass index equal to or greater than 35, exactly 12 times higher than women who have a body mass index within normal limits.
Calculate the body mass index BMI of women
The body mass index (BMI) is a number that aims to determine, based on a person’s height and mass, if their mass is in a healthy range. It has been used as a nutritional indicator since the early 1980s
. Although BMI does not distinguish between fat and non-fat components of total body mass, it is the most practical method for assessing the degree of risk associated with obesity.
According to the World Health Organization,1 in adults, a range of 18.5 to 25 is usually established as healthy. A BMI below 18.5 indicates malnutrition or a health problem, while a BMI of 25 or higher indicates overweight. From 30 there is mild obesity, and from 40 there is morbid obesity, which may require a surgical operation.
The ideal body mass index (BMI) for women is approximately 21.5, and approximately 22.5 for men.
The body mass index is the result of dividing the mass in kilograms by the square of the height expressed in meters: BMI= mass (Kg) times (height(m)) squared. For example, for a woman who weighs 60 kilos and is 1.50m tall, the BMI is calculated:
BMI= 60/(1.50*1.50)=60/2.25=26.66 BMI