Obese People Living to 90: Healthy or Modern Medicine?

Obese people can live to 90 and maybe more, but is this because they’re healthy or is it the miracle of modern medicine?

My obese uncle (husband of my paternal aunt) lived to 91. He always had a BIG potbelly and hefty arms and legs.

He was fat. He never exercised. He smoked cigars, and his diet included plenty of kielbasa and sausage.

Just because an obese person lives a long life doesn’t mean they were healthy.

You might be thinking, “Isn’t being healthy a requirement for living to a ripe old age?”

Well it most certainly is … when there’s no medical interventions!

My father once said, “Uncle Ted is the healthiest sickest man I know.”

For the last 20 years of Ted’s life, he was sick as a dog, and his wife took very good care of him. For example, he had diabetes and had to have a leg partially amputated.

He also had a heart attack. Had he been living alone, he would’ve died from that heart attack.

But because his wife was there and called for an ambulance, he survived and lived for many years after that. Ted had years to his life, but little life to his years.

Modern Medicine Keeps People Going

Think about it. Even a morbidly obese person might see 85, even 90. But not naturally. There will need to be major medical intervention.

This may be an emergent surgery (e.g., severely blocked arteries that can cause a heart attack at any time), or, a preventive surgery (severely blocked arteries … but the threat of a heart attack isn’t imminent).

You might be thinking: Modern medicine keeps thin people alive too!

Well of course. A pacemaker and an assortment of drugs keep thin people with various serious conditions going well past 80.

So do coronary bypass surgery and other surgeries. Smoking, lack of exercise and a high sodium diet can make a normal-weight person’s heart very damaged.

However, if you add obesity to this recipe, it will make that person’s heart significantly worse, plus cause other problems such as joint damage.

Being slender or at a medically acceptable weight doesn’t cause chronic heart failure, clogged arteries, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol or heart attacks.

But a lighter person who eats a lot of high sodium food, ultra-processed food, never works out and smokes a pack a day is asking for a boat-load of trouble down the road.

With that all said, the reason very large people are reaching ripe old age is due to modern medicine. Modern medicine is just plain amazing!

I’m very interested in knowing how many people who are at least 100 pounds overweight (morbid obesity) are 80, let alone 90.

Once we have this group identified, the next question is: How many of them can get around without any difficulty? No walker, no cane? What about a staircase? What about getting in and out of a car?

How many do not need supplemental oxygen, whether when out in the community or only overnight?

How many do not need a CPAP machine (the “sleeping mask”) for obstructive sleep apnea?

Another point to consider is that the earlier in life that one becomes morbidly obese, the more damage they will have from this by the time they’re, say, over 60.

For instance, suppose someone is of normal weight until they’re 70, and then they’ve decided to indulge more and slack off from exercise.

The result is 100 pounds gained by age 80. Yes, this is very bad for any body, but the effects would not be as terrible had they been 100 pounds overweight since 25.

Next time someone points out that their grandmother or some other relative is fat and 89, they need to ask themselves: Is it a natural 89 or courtesy of modern medicine?

How long have they been fat? Only fairly recently or all their life?

Would she still be alive if she’d never had any major medical intervention?

Even what seems like a minor medical intervention, such as a prescription to a high blood pressure drug after the routine physical reveals high blood pressure, can help prevent death.