Fat Chance

Here‘s news I didn’t expect:

In a 16-year study that followed more than 45,000 male health professionals, researchers found a steady decrease in suicides as B.M.I. increased, even after controlling for variables including smoking, dietary factors, physical activity, marital status and alcohol use. There were 131 suicides during the time of the study.

Compared with those in the lowest 20 percent in B.M.I., men in the highest one-fifth were almost 60 percent less likely to kill themselves.

“It’s a surprisingly strong relationship,” said Kenneth J. Mukamal, the lead author and an associate professor of medicine at Harvard University. “But even though we see that heavier men are less likely to commit suicide, there are plenty of other studies that link obesity to poor health. Gaining weight is not the best way to improve anyone’s mental health. I hope these findings will provide insight into new strategies to prevent suicide.”

So what is it about being heavier that makes you less likely to pull the plug? The researchers suggest it may have something to do with higher circulating levels of insulin. But you have to figure that some of the heavier people have insulin resistance, which is linked to mood disorders. The best answer might be that the men in the study — highly educated (and overwhelmingly white) male health professionals — aren’t really representative of the overall population.

Pop a pill before you bust a gut

Vitamins are getting a bad rap these days, but here’s a group that can use them:

Weight loss surgery could lead to a condition which can result in memory loss, according to U.S. research. The syndrome — Wernicke encephalopathy — affects the nervous system and brain, and can lead to confusion and the inability to co-ordinate movement.

The study, published in Neurology, the journal of the American Academy of Neurology, says the syndrome is caused by a lack of vitamin B1, or thiamine. Frequent vomiting after surgery can lead to the syndrome, the study found.

What’s interesting here is that the syndrome shows up months after the surgery — in one case 18 months later. The treatment involves administering B vitamins intravenously, so taking vitamins should help prevent it.

Take that, all you … well, whoever advises people not to take vitamins.

Tags: Tags: obesity