Moderate obesity shortens life by three years
18 March 2009
Moderate obesity can take three years off life expectancy, while severe obesity can shorten a person's life by as much as 10 years, research suggests.
Photograph: istockphoto/Marc Dietrich
An analysis of almost a million people brought together data from 57 long-term research studies mostly based in Europe or North America.
People were followed for an average of 10 to 15 years, during which 100,000 died, making it the largest ever investigation of how obesity affects mortality.
Among the 900,000 men and women in the study, mortality was lowest in those who had a BMI of 23 to 24.
Lead researcher Dr Gary Whitlock, from Oxford University, said: ‘If you are becoming overweight or obese, avoiding further weight gain could well add years to your life.’
sanjay.tanday@haymarket.com
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