New generations of adults are less healthy than their predecessors – putting at risk continuing improvements in human life expectancy, researchers warned yesterday.
Young adults are much more likely to be overweight and obese than previous generations, putting them at risk of a range of diseases, according to the Dutch research.
Researchers say overall health is continuing to improve because of declines in smoking rates – but this could change in the future.
They found that young adults have lost about 15 years of "metabolic" health – meaning they carry as much fat as people 15 years older and could face similar risks of diabetes and heart disease.
The findings, reported in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, come from a study of more than 6,000 people which began in 1987.
It showed that at the outset some 40% of men in their 30s were overweight. 11 years later this increase to 52%.
Researcher Gerben Hulsegge, from the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, said: "The prevalence of obesity in our youngest generation of men and women at the mean age of 40 is similar to that of our oldest generation at the mean age of 55. This means that this younger generation is 15 years ahead of the older generation and will be exposed to their obesity for a longer time."
He added: "This decrease in smoking prevalence and improved quality of health care are now important driving forces behind the greater life expectancy of younger generations, and it’s likely that in the near future life expectancy will continue to rise – but it’s also possible that in the more distant future, as a result of our current trends in obesity, the rate of increase in life expectancy may well slow down, although it’s difficult to speculate about that."
Hulsegge G, Susan H, Picavet J, et al. Today’s adult generations are less healthy than their predecessors: Generation shifts in metabolic risk factors: the Doetinchem Cohort Study. Eur J Prevent Cardiol 10 April 2013; doi: 10.1177/2047487313485512.
Leave a Reply