On 2016 Jan 20, thomas samaras commented:

A very interesting study. However, the conclusion that overweight may not be harmful at older ages is not consistent with what we know about the dangers of increasing BMI and various health parameters. Lamon-Fava showed many years ago that virtually all biological parameters get worse with increasing BMI in a linear trend; e.g., BP, fibrinogen, Apo B, Apo A, and HDL. In addition, the New England Centenarian Study found that almost all men who reached 100 years of age were lean. The Okinawan centenarians are also very lean. We also know that pre-western people with low chronic disease throughout their lives also tend to be quite lean in old age; e.g., people of Kitava (near Papua New Guinea).

Maier, Van Heemst and Westendorp found that shorter 85 and 90 years were more likely to reach advanced ages. These shorter, longer living individuals also had longer telomeres than taller people as found in the Guzzardi, et al. study. Perhaps confounding occurred by a number of lean people who were developing health problems without current symptoms, smokers, or poorly nourished individuals. This confounding may explain the results in regard to the positive correlation of increased % of fat mass and cholesterol between the start and end of the study.

On 2016 Jan 20, thomas samaras commented:

A very interesting study. However, the conclusion that overweight may not be harmful at older ages is not consistent with what we know about the dangers of increasing BMI and various health parameters. Lamon-Fava showed many years ago that virtually all biological parameters get worse with increasing BMI in a linear trend; e.g., BP, fibrinogen, Apo B, Apo A, and HDL. In addition, the New England Centenarian Study found that almost all men who reached 100 years of age were lean. The Okinawan centenarians are also very lean. We also know that pre-western people with low chronic disease throughout their lives also tend to be quite lean in old age; e.g., people of Kitava (near Papua New Guinea).

Maier, Van Heemst and Westendorp found that shorter 85 and 90 years were more likely to reach advanced ages. These shorter, longer living individuals also had longer telomeres than taller people as found in the Guzzardi, et al. study. Perhaps confounding occurred by a number of lean people who were developing health problems without current symptoms, smokers, or poorly nourished individuals. This confounding may explain the results in regard to the positive correlation of increased % of fat mass and cholesterol between the start and end of the study.