Health & Nutrition
Obesity Can Reduce Lifespan by up to 20 Years
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Jan 07 - Obesity can, on average,
cut more than a decade from a person's life; for black men it can shorten life
by up to 20 years, the results of a new US study indicate.
The findings, which are published in the January 8th issue of
the Journal of the American Medical Association, support the idea that excess
body weight is a health problem, and may spur physicians and public health
officials to redouble efforts to address the growing obesity epidemic.
"Excess weight has not received the same attention from
clinicians and policymakers as have other threats to health such as tobacco
use, hypertension, or (high cholesterol)," Drs. JoAnn E. Manson and Shari S.
Bassuk, from Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, write in an accompanying
editorial. "It is not surprising that obesity rates continue to climb."
The findings show that "obesity has a profound effect on life
span," study author Dr. David B. Allison, from the University of Alabama in
Birmingham, and colleagues state.
According to the report, obesity is particularly dangerous for
younger adults. Severely obese white men, 20 to 30 years of age, live about 13
fewer years than others in the general population. Severely obese white women
can expect to live eight fewer years than their non-obese counterparts.
Obesity also had a profound effect on the lifespan of younger
blacks. Obese black men, 20 to 30 years of age, lose about 20 years and obese
black women lose about 5 years of life, even after adjusting the data for
smoking.
In the study based on national survey data, white adults with
a body mass index (BMI) of 23 to 25 and black adults with a BMI of 23 to 30
lived the longest.
The findings quantify the health risks associated with
obesity, especially for young and middle-aged adults. Because about two thirds
of the US adult population is overweight or obese, the findings portend an
ongoing health crisis, the researchers warn.
The authors call for more research, particularly into the
apparent racial differences observed. Nonetheless, the findings "confirm that
obesity is a major public health problem that appears to lessen life
expectancy markedly, especially among individuals in younger age groups," Dr.
Allison and colleagues conclude.
Also see our fact sheets on Diabetes
and Hypertension.
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