IStock Photo 2966782 © Leigh Schindler

Is it possible that if you live long enough, obesity is no longer associated with an increased risk of death? And consider this: if you reach a ripe old age, could that extra padding actually do you some good?

Most of us are overweight. According to the National Institutes of Health, nearly a third of American adults are obese. And when you add in those who are merely overweight, but not obese, that's another third of the adult population. Adults 50-59 have the greatest prevalence of obesity: the odds for them are 1 in 3.24. The prognosis for those 60-69 improves slightly, with the odds of obesity at 1 in 3.34. However, the odds an adult 70 or older is obese are 1 in 5.15.

Why the sudden dip in obesity with age? Since obesity increases the risk of heart disease, it may be that many obese adults don't live to be 70 years old. Many studies have put the increased risk of death associated with obesity at 10-50% compared to healthy weight individuals.

It’s also possible that more members of the older population have managed to avoid becoming obese. In 1960, only about 13% of all adults ages 20 to 74 were obese; in 2010 the youngest members of that group turn 70. Perhaps they've carried their healthier eating habits and more active lifestyles into adulthood, as opposed to their children and grandchildren. By 2004, the comparable rate of obesity for individuals ages 20 to 74 had risen to 32%.

We all know extra weight puts us at an increased risk for many cardiovascular diseases, as well as impaired mobility, but what’s news is that the link between obesity and death in old age is far from clear-cut. A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association looked at the death rates of over 6,000 obese Germans recruited over a 33-year period and found that regardless of the degree of obesity, excess mortality associated with obesity actually decreased with age.

In addition, a 2005 study which looked at the death rate in overweight nursing home residents found that very obese residents had a higher rate of death early in their nursing home stay, but over time they had lower mortality rates than the underweight population (which often suffered from diseases or conditions that contributed to poor nourishment). Obese residents who were already living in nursing homes prior to the commencement of the study actually had lower rates of mortality than either their thin or normal weight peers. So it seems that in some cases, obesity in the elderly may protect them from certain conditions that lead to death.