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Show Overweight Still Regarded as a Serious Problem Although families have been consuming a steady diet on articles arti-cles on "how to lose weight," the problem of extra pounds is still a serious one, reports the Institute Insti-tute of Life Insurance. There is particular concern in life insurance circles over one fact that has remained virtually unchanged in the past decade: It is that during the course of a year, tens of thousands of applications ap-plications for life insurance policies are made by people who must be charged a higher premium pre-mium because of serious over weight. Although serious underweight can also be a problem, life insurance in-surance companies have long preached the maxim of "lean body, longer life." The reason they must charge an extra premium pre-mium for serious overweight is that. ohfsp npnnlp arp hplnw av- erage risks and tend to have shorter lives. To insure them at standard rates would be unfair to other police holders. As far back as the turn of the century, life insurance companies compa-nies have been stressing the relationship re-lationship of overweight to half 20 per cent heavier than the proper weight for their build. "It is something of a paradox that medical science has been able to add 22 years to the average aver-age length of life since 1900 only to have that life endangered and frequently shortened by over- a dozen or more serious ailments among them diabetes, high blood pressure, heart and kidney disease dis-ease and hardening of the arteries. arte-ries. When informed that he has to pay more for his life insurance, the overweight person may decide de-cide to buy the policy anyway. If he takes the sensible course of losing the necessary number of pounds, and then continues at a normal level of weight, he may find that the insurance company com-pany will remove the "extra rating" rat-ing" and reduce the premiums to the standard amount. Of course, the company will probably want j to keep an eye on his weight for a period of six months to a year before doing so. Dr. Louis I. Dublin, widely-known widely-known statistician and consultant consult-ant on health and welfare of the Institute of Life Insurance, estimates esti-mates that one out of every five adult Americans weighs more than he should. Over five million are obese that is, they are over eating," he comments. A problem of weight reduction can almost be compared with ; controlling a disease, Dr. Dublin j says. It should be done under the j direction of a physician, and may call for a good deal more will power than many people are willing to use. To keep weight down permanently means a ma- jor change of one's eating habits ; and this is almost as hard as learning to be left handed after a lifetime of right handedness. What many people overlook is that the extra pounds not only penalize the person who carries them around they also penalize ; his family. It is tragic enough for a family to lose a father or mother in the prime of life, but it is totally unnecessary if over weight has been a factor. Sub- : stantial weight loss by a father or mother who needs to reduce means longer life and better health and an assurance that ; the family will live together for : many more years. |