Obesity after 40 means shorter lifespan

January 7, 2003

From yesterday's news comes this 50-year study of over 3,000 people:

Obesity in Middle Age Cuts Years Off Life

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - People who are overweight at 40 are likely to die

at least three years sooner than those who are slim, meaning that in

terms of life expectancy, being fat during middle age is just as bad

as smoking, researchers say.

The study was conducted by Dutch researchers and published in

Tuesday's issue of the ls of Internal Medicine.

Nonsmokers who were classified as overweight, but not obese, lost an

average of three years off their lives. Obese people died even

sooner. Obese female nonsmokers lost an average 7.1 years, while men

lost 5.8 years.

Scientists have long known that overweight people have shorter life

expectancies, but few large-scale studies have been able to pinpoint

how many years they lose.

" This study is saying that if you are overweight by your mid-30s to

mid-40s, even if you lose some weight later on, you still carry a

higher risk of dying, " said Dr. Serge Jabbour, director of the weight-

loss clinic at Jefferson University Hospital in

Philadelphia. " The message is that you have to work early on your

weight. If you wait a long time, the damage may have been done. "

For smokers, the results were even worse. Obese female smokers died

7.2 years sooner than normal-weight smokers, and 13.3 years sooner

than normal-weight nonsmoking women. Obese male smokers lived 6.7

years less than trim smokers, and 13.7 years less than normal-weight

nonsmokers.

The results were culled from vital statistics collected from 3,457

volunteers in Framingham, Mass., from 1948 to 1990. The data were

analyzed by researchers at Erasmus Medical Center and the University

of Gronigen in the Netherlands.

Obesity is defined as having a body-mass index of 30 or above. The

index is a measure of weight relative to height. Healthy weight is a

BMI of less than 25.

About two-thirds of U.S. adults are overweight or obese, according to

the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (news - web sites).

Studies have also shown that people are getting fatter, younger.

" The smoking epidemic in the Western world is waning; however, a new

fear should be the increasing prevalence of overweight and obesity in

young adults, which heralds another potentially preventable public

health disaster, " the researchers said.

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