Obesity can eat up 8 years of your life

In a new study, scientists have found that overweight and obese people can lose up to 8 years of their lives.

Researchers at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC) and McGill University, examined the relationship between body weight and life expectancy, and found that obese people have the potential to decrease life expectancy by up to 8 years, and may also develop diabetes or cardiovascular disease earlier in life, and this excess weight can rob them of nearly two decades of healthy life.

Lead author Dr. Steven Grover at McGill University said that their team had developed a computer model to help doctors and their patients better understand how excess body weight contributes to reduced life expectancy and premature development of heart disease and diabetes. The researchers used data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (from years 2003 to 2010) to develop a model that estimates the annual risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease in adults with different body weights. This data from almost 4,000 individuals was also used to analyze the contribution of excess body weight to years of life lost and healthy years of life lost.

Their findings estimated that individuals who were very obese could lose up to 8 years of life, obese individuals could lose up to 6 years, and those who were overweight could lose up to three years. In addition, healthy life-years lost were two to four times higher for overweight and obese individuals compared to those who had a healthy weight, defined as 18.5-25 body mass index (BMI). The age at which the excess weight accumulated was an important factor and the worst outcomes were in those who gained their weight at earlier ages.

The study is published in the current issue of The Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology.