Peer Review Research Shows How Losing Weight translates into a Lower BMI (Basal Metabolism Index) which means a Healthier You!
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Substitute with our:
Café Latte
- Total Calories:
- 190
- Calories Saved:
- 100
- Annual Lbs Lost:
- 10
- BMI Reduction:
- -1.79
Lightfull Foods recently hired Dr. John Cawley, Associate Professor at Cornell University to conduct a peer review study of the health benefits of losing weight. What he found is that for the average woman, reducing calorie intake by just 70 calories a day could prove a boon to her wallet and her health.
Dr. Cawley’s new summary of research shows the impact of a BMI (body mass index) unit reduction in weight on a person’s health and pocketbook. “Weighing less – even just a single unit of BMI less – is associated with considerable benefits including decreased risks of specific conditions like heart disease and cancer, decreased risk of mortality, decreased medical care costs and, among women, higher wages,” says Dr. Cawley.
For the average woman, a one BMI reduction is the equivalent of losing seven pounds, which can be achieved by cutting just 70 calories a day.
Substitute LightFull Satiety Smoothies for Some of Your Favorite High Calorie Snacks (Every Unit of BMI reduction means Health Care Cost savings and Lower Risk of Disease)
Health Benefits of Reducing Your BMI
The health benefits documented in Dr. Cawley’s research summary are indisputable. A reduction of just one BMI unit can:
- Reduce a man’s risk of colon cancer by 39 percent, and a woman’s risk by 17 percent.
- Reduce the probability of diabetes by 11.6 percent
- Reduce the risk of heart disease by 5.2 percent for both men and women.
The numbers are equally significant for sleep apnea, rectal cancer and pancreatic cancer.
Cost Benefits
Also noteworthy is how losing one BMI unit is associated with big savings in health care costs. For example, decreasing weight by a single unit of BMI can reduce medical and pharmaceutical costs by $4,040 over a 20-year period of time.
“The data also show a significant inverse relationship between weight and wages for certain women,” Dr. Cawley said. For the average woman a loss of one BMI can mean additional earnings of almost $11,000 over 20 years (based on a median income of $32,900). That fact combined with the decrease in medical costs and reduced risk of disease should be reason enough to strive to maintain a healthy weight.
*According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), you’re considered normal weight if you have a body mass index of 18.5-24.9, overweight if your BMI is 25-29.9, and obese if your BMI is 30 or greater. (Body mass index is equal to your weight in kilograms divided by your height in meters squared.) According to the CDC, two-thirds of Americans now fall into the categories of overweight and obese.
Note: Complete tables of Professor Cawley’s new summary of peer-reviewed research can be obtained by contacting Susan Schneider at press@LightFullFoods.com.
