Description: Staying trim and healthy in younger years can lead to a healthier, more mobile old age, U.S. researchers say.

Researchers analyzed data on more than 2,800 people, ages 70 to 79, in the Pittsburgh and Memphis metropolitan areas.

Reporting in the International Journal of Obesity, they found that women and men who were obese at ages 25 and 50, as well as at the time of the study, scored significantly lower on physical performance tests than those who were normal weight at those ages.

The physical performance tests measured walking speed, balance, and the ability to rise from a chair. The researchers noted that poor physical performance in older adults is a predictor of future disability, nursing home admission and death.

Women who were overweight but not obese at ages 25, 50 and between 70 to 79 also had lower physical performance test scores than those with normal weights at those ages.

The study also found that men and women who were ov