Study: Intentional Weight Loss Not Harmful to Seniors After All

For years, it's been a widely held belief that intentional weight loss in seniors leads to an increased risk of death - but new research from Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center is turning that theory on its ear.

According to researchers, seniors who intentionally exercise and/or modify their diets to lose weight are actually half as likely to die within eight years as their peers who don't work toward weight loss. It's a finding that one of the study's authors describes as "unusually strong and surprising."

Overall, the intervention (weight loss) group in the study saw half as many deaths within eight years as the non-weight-loss group.

A seasoned gerontologist cautioned that the size of the study was relatively small and that the results should be confirmed in other trials, but added that the findings were sufficient enough to rule out significant excess risk due to intentional weight loss.

To learn more about the study, click here.