Increases in Obesity and Overweight and associated health risks

reposted from: Scientific American Digital - October 2010
Risks-Overweight-Obese-SCIAM-1010104.pdf

In 2008 compared to 1980 USA had many more adults and children who were obese and overweight with corresponding increases in Coronery Heart Disease, type 2 Diabetes (for overweight males double the risk), colon cancer and an x2-3 increase in risk of death if you are obese at 50.

Mild obesity takes years off your life

reposted from: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16790-mild-obesity-takes-years-off-your-life.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=health

If you are moderately obese (30-35 kg/m2) you are likely to be shortening your life by 2-4 years. You increase you risk of mortality by 30% & increase Systolic Blood Pressure by 5mm Hg for every 5 kg/m2 increase.

• 00:01 18 March 2009 by Michael Marshall

If you are moderately overweight (BMI between 30 and 35 kg/m²), you will probably live two to four years less than if you stick to your ideal weight, according to a major new study of obesity and mortality.

The research may help to resolve a long-standing controversy about whether mild obesity is actually a health risk. While it is accepted that being severely overweight reduces life expectancy, the effects of being slightly overweight have been hotly debated.

A team led by Richard Peto and Gary Whitlock of the Clinical Trial Service Unit at the University of Oxford, pulled together data from 57 studies, as part of a major study called the Prospective Studies Collaboration.
They looked at almost 900,000 people, mostly from Europe and North America, to see whether those with a higher body mass index (BMI) were more likely to die early.
BMI is a measure of how obese a person is, based on their weight and height (calculate yours here). The ideal range is 22.5 to 25 kilograms per square metre.

People whose BMI was higher than 25 kg/m² had shorter lifespans on average.

Middle-aged spread

Those who were moderately overweight, with a BMI between 30 and 35 kg/m², lived two to four years less.

This level of mild obesity is now common, particularly among middle-aged people.

People who were severely obese, with a BMI between 40 and 45 kg/m², lived eight to ten years less on average – a reduction comparable to that caused by smoking.

This level of morbid obesity is still rare.
The increase in early mortality was caused by a range of diseases, including heart disease, stroke, diabetes, liver disease, kidney disease, some forms of cancer and lung disease.
Whitlock says, "Excess weight shortens human lifespan. If you are becoming overweight or obese, avoiding further weight gain could well add years to your life."
Journal reference: The Lancet, DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(09)60318-4

Discussion

In this collaborative analysis of data from almost 900 000 adults in 57 prospective studies,

overall mortality was lowest at about 22·5–25 kg/m² in both sexes and at all ages, after exclusion of early follow-up and adjustment for smoking status.

Above this range, each 5 kg/m² higher BMI was associated with about 30% higher all-cause mortality (40% for vascular; 60–120% for diabetic, renal, and hepatic; 10% for neoplastic; and 20% for respiratory and for all other mortality) and no specific cause of death was inversely associated with BMI.

Being overweight can reduce Life Expectancy by 3 years - Framlingham study

reposted from: Annals of Internal Medicine. via Wikipedia Overweight.

A 2003 Framingham Heart Study found that being overweight at age 40 years reduced your life expectancy by three years. For the obese, life expectancy loss was reduced by six years.

Results: Large decreases in life expectancy were associated with overweight and obesity. Forty-year-old female nonsmokers lost 3.3 years and 40-year-old male nonsmokers lost 3.1 years of life expectancy because of overweight. Forty-year-old female nonsmokers lost 7.1 years and 40-year-old male nonsmokers lost 5.8 years because of obesity. Obese female smokers lost 7.2 years and obese male smokers lost 6.7 years of life expectancy compared with normal-weight smokers. Obese female smokers lost 13.3 years and obese male smokers lost 13.7 years compared with normal-weight nonsmokers. Body mass index at ages 30 to 49 years predicted mortality after ages 50 to 69 years, even after adjustment for body mass index at age 50 to 69 years.

Conclusions: Obesity and overweight in adulthood are associated with large decreases in life expectancy and increases in early mortality. These decreases are similar to those seen with smoking. Obesity in adulthood is a powerful predictor of death at older ages.