Obesity Can Shorten Your Life

Obesity and extreme obesity have the potential to reduce life expectancy by up to 8 years and deprive adults of as much as 19 years of healthy life as a result of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease, a study suggests.

The study published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology used data from the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey to create a disease-simulation model for estimating the risk of developing diabetes and cardiovascular disease in adults of different body weight. The researchers then analyzed the contribution of overweight and obesity to years of life lost and healthy years of life lost in US adults of various ages between 20 and 79 years old, compared to people of normal weight.

Overweight individuals BMI (Body Mass Index 25 to <30 weight in kilograms / height in m2) were estimated to lose between 0 and 3 years of life expectancy, depending on their age and gender.

For obese individuals (30 to <35 weight in kilograms / height in m2) the years lost were between 1 and 6 years, whereas the very obese (35 weight in kilograms / height in m2 or more) were estimated to lose between 1 and 8 years.

The effect of excess weight on years of life lost was greatest for the young and dropped with increasing age.

Excess weight doesn’t just reduce life expectancy but also healthy life-years (defined as years free of obesity-associated cardiovascular disease and diabetes). The study shows that being overweight or obese is associated with two to four times as many healthy life-years lost than total years of life lost. The highest losses in healthy life-years were in young adults aged between 20 and 29 years old, amounting to around 19 years for very obese men and women.

Weight loss is more than a physical challenge, it's a mental challenge.

we want to make people aware of the obesity problem in the country. Obesity is a direct result of inactivity and poor food choices.

Ryan Miller

Every cure of obesity must begin with these three essential precepts: discretion in eating, moderation in sleeping, and exercise...

Jean Anthelme