Obesity Can Shorten Lifespan By Nearly 8 Years

Obesity Can Shorten Lifespan By Nearly 8 Years

A recently published study performed by a team form McGill University shows how obesity can shorten life expectancy by up to 8 years. Healthy lifespan can also be reduced by a whopping two decades of healthy years because of obesity associated diseases like diabetes or heart disease.

Professor Steven Grover , M.D. the lead author of the study noted that one of the most important factors in the way obesity affects life expectancy is the age at which you gain weight with the worst results being registered by people who gain weight while very young.

The study was published in The Lance Diabetes and Endocrinology and was based on data gathered from 4,000 people. Grover added that people who are morbidly obese can lose up to eight years of life while obese people will love up to six years. The same study showed that overweight people could lose up to three years of life as well.

People with a body mass index between 25 and 29.9 are considered overweight while people who have a BMI of over 30 are obese. A healthy BMI is somewhere between 18.5 and 25 according to the CDC. The body mass index is calculated by taking into account your weight and height and is considered a simple yet effective method of measuring body fat for most people.

Grover concluded that being overweight is as unhealthy as smoking, and like smoking, the younger you are when you do it, the more damage you can do over time.

Posted by George Daniels on Monday December 08 2014, 2:54 AM EDT. Ref: Huffington Post. Link. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News, Health. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0