WOMEN SENSIBLE TO MAKE FUSS OVER GAINING 5 POUNDS.

Byline: Russ Colchamiro Medical PressCorps News Service

Women who gain as little as five pounds may experience an increase in bodily pain and a decrease in physical functioning and overall quality of life. These findings are from a study published in today's issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association (www.jama.com).

Researchers stress that avoiding weight gain, regardless of whether you are lean, slightly overweight or already obese, will also maintain your day-to-day physical dexterity and quality of life.

``This study confirms that the more overweight women are, the more their quality of life will decrease,'' said Jennifer T. Fine, a researcher formerly with the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston. ``However, if they can at least maintain weight, they will not suffer the negative effects associated with weight gain. That's the main message of the study.''

Researchers led by Fine, who is now a health economist at Genentech in San Francisco, analyzed questionnaires of 40,098 female nurses or former nurses, 46 to 71 years old, who participated in the Nurses' Health Study from 1992 to 1996.

Of the participants, 39 percent maintained their weight, 38 percent gained five to 20 pounds, 17 percent lost five to 20 pounds and 2 percent lost more than 20 pounds. The women were categorized using the body mass index scale. The BMI is calculated by dividing the person's weight in kilograms by height in meters squared. Women with a BMI less than 25 were considered lean, while those with 25 to 30 were considered moderately overweight, and those with a BMI over 30 were considered obese.

Researchers found that weight gain of five to 20 pounds, regardless of original weight, had a negative effect on physical function, bodily pain and overall energy levels. Weight gain of more than 20 pounds had a significant negative effect.

Women who maintained their weight showed no differences, positive or negative, in physical function, bodily pain and energy levels. The study also showed that in obese women, a loss of greater than 20 pounds led to improved functioning and decreased levels of bodily pain and increased levels of energy.

``It's tough for overweight women to lose weight,'' Fine said. ``So if they can just maintain their weight, it's a little bit of good news.''

Weight loss has been associated with improvement in risk factors associated with coronary heart disease, including high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels and increased sensitivity to insulin.

Conversely, being overweight and obese are known risk factors for diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, gallbladder disease, stroke and some forms of cancer. Weight gain has been associated with increased risk of overall mortality.

While weight loss is generally recommended, Fine said that lean women should try to maintain their weight. Elderly lean women who lost weight experienced a deterioration in physical function, vitality and freedom from bodily pain. However, the weight loss was considered unintentional, attributed to illness.