Does Maintenance of Body Shape Contribute to Health in Middle-Aged Women?

Body weight gain or obesity has been reported to increase the risk of developing lifestyle-related diseases. However, few longitudinal studies have examined the relationship between body shape change and health, and the few that do exist used body shapes reported by the subjects.We investigated whether or not maintaining a “youthful” body shape helps prevent the development of lifestyle-related diseases in healthy women. Changes in body shape in a group of healthy women were evaluated over 30 years starting from sometime in their 20s by visually judging pictures of the subjects and using body shape vectors. Subjects were classified into two groups: a group of 12 (mean age: 44.9±5.1 years) who were judged to have maintained their youthful body shape (maintained group) and a group of 16 (mean age: 47.5±6.1 years) who were judged not to have maintained their shape (non-maintained group). Body size and composition measurements were then compared with biochemical markers that measure the risk of developing lifestyle-related diseases. Mean body weight in the maintained group was 4.0 kg less than in the non-maintained group, while body fat mass was 4.6 kg less. In addition, the maintained group showed better scores for biochemical and pulse wave velocity tests.Taken together, our results suggest that women who maintain their youthful body shape into their later years have a reduced risk of the lifestyle-related diseases that frequently accompany age.