Obesity can shorten life by eight years

Being obese can shorten life by eight years and condemn a person to almost two decades of ill-health, new research has shown.

Scientists used a computer model to predict that diabetes and heart disease were likely to deprive an obese person of up to 19 years of healthy living.

For the very obese, with a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 35 or more, between one and eight years of life were likely to be lost.

Overweight individuals with BMIs of 25 to 30 were predicted to have their lives shortened by up to three years.

BMI is calculated by dividing a person’s weight in kilograms by height in metres squared and is the standard tool used to define levels of obesity.  Someone who is obese is said to have a BMI of 30 or more.

Lead researcher Professor Steven Grover, from McGill University in Montreal, Canada, said: “Our computer modelling study shows that obesity is associated with an increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease (including heart disease and stroke) and diabetes that will, on average, dramatically reduce an individual’s life expectancy and the healthy life-years free from living with these chronic illnesses compared with people of normal weight.

“The pattern is clear.The more an individual weighs and the younger their age, the greater the effect on their health, as they have many years ahead of them during which the increased health risks associated with obesity can negatively impact their lives.”

The study, published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology journal, drew on data from the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES).

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