Obesity shortens life expectancy up to eight years: study

Obesity has potential to reduce life expectancy by up to eight years as a result of diabetes and cardiovascular disease, Xinhua news agency reports citing a new study.

The study used data from the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey to create a disease-stimulation model which was then used to estimate the risk of developing diabetes and cardiovascular disease in adults of different body weight.

Researchers analysed 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 compared to people of normal weight.

Overweight individuals were estimated to lose between zero and three years of life expectancy depending on their age and gender.

For obese individuals, years lost were between one and six whereas the very obese were estimated to lose between one and eight years.

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, amounting to around 19 years for very obese men and women.

"The pattern is clear," explains Dr Steven Grover, lead author and Professor at McGill University, Canada.

"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," he said.

Grover added that these calculations should prove useful for obese individuals and health professionals to better appreciate the scale of the problem, and the substantial benefits of a healthier lifestyle including changes to diet and regular physical activity.

The study was published in British medical journal The Lancet.