Reubin Andres, an Advocate of Weight Gain, Dies at 89
1st October 2012
In analyzing that and other longitudinal studies, Dr. Andres determined that Metropolitan Life’s weight recommendations were too high for the early years and too low for later years. Among other things, he observed that the group with the smallest percentages of deaths, or “minimum mortality,” was 10 to 20 percent over the recommended weights and increased with age.
To live longer, he concluded, people should start thin and then gain about six pounds a decade beginning in their early 40s. That advice went against the prevailing wisdom, which held that the most healthful way to age was to maintain the same weight throughout adulthood.
“For some reason the idea has grabbed us that the best weight throughout the life span is that of a 20-year-old,” Dr. Andres said in a 1985 interview with The New York Times. “But there’s just overwhelming evidence now that as you go through life, it’s in your best interests to lay down some fat.”
Dr. Andres was not advocating obesity. “It is not my contention that the fatter the better,” he said. “It is my contention that the desirable range rises with age.”
Sounds good to me.