Obesity can raise the risk of dying young by 50pc, study reveals

EXCESS weight can increase the risk of dying young by up to 50 per cent, a major study shows.

The research on almost 3 million middle-aged adults in Britain lays bare the consequences of the growing obesity epidemic.

The findings, presented at the European Congress on Obesity in Glasgow, found that even being slightly plump was linked to a host of health problems.

Those with a BMI of between 25 and 30 – classed as overweight – had more than twice the risk of diabetes, and a 50 per cent greater chance of high blood pressure, compared with slim adults. Risks of osteoarthritis and asthma were raised by one third and one quarter respectively. Experts said the findings were “staggering”.

Those with the highest Body Mass Index (BMI) were 12 times as likely to develop Type 2 diabetes compared with those of healthy weight, with three times the risk of heart problems.

When BMI was between 30 and 35, the risk of diabetes was five times that of those of healthy weight, while the chance of suffering high blood pressure doubled.

The greatest risks surrounded those classed as severely obese – with a BMI between 40 and 45, where all-cause mortality rose by 50 per cent.

The research, by pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk, tracked more than 2.8 million adults, with an average age of 51, for around eight years. As well as detailing mortality rates, it examined risks of developing 12 major diseases.

Researchers said it showed “phenomenal” risks associated with weight gain, with the chance of major diseases doubling from one group to the next.

Obesity rates in this country are the highest in Western Europe, with rates rising even faster than those of the United States. Two in three adults are overweight or obese, along with one in three children by the time they leave primary school.

Caroline Cerny, from the Obesity Health Alliance, a coalition health charities said: “These findings are hugely worrying. Obesity can have serious implications for long term health, making it all the more vital that we help people be a healthy weight.”

The link between high BMI and high mortality was only demonstrated among those in the heaviest weight groups. But researchers said this was because people tend to lose weight when suffering from life-threatening illness.

Prof Nick Finer, senior scientist in obesity at Novo Nordisk, who was not involved in the study, said the findings were particularly compelling, because they came from “real world” data.

“What this shows, which is striking, is the enormous increase with the most severe stages of obesity. These are phenomenal risk factors – a twelvefold increased risk for two type diabetes is staggering,” he said.

The figures show that while 15.5 per cent of adults of normal weight had high blood pressure, this rose to 24.9 per cent among those who were overweight, and 34.3 per cent among the severely obese.