‘Thousands of lives could be saved’

More than 40,000 lives could be saved in the UK by 2030 if people were a healthy weight, research suggests.

Premature deaths from cardiovascular disease, cancer, chronic respiratory disease and diabetes could be cut by 31 per cent compared with current predictions if obesity was wiped out, a study found.

Researchers, who presented their findings at the European Congress on Obesity in Glasgow, found that obesity directly accounts for about four million deaths globally in a year.

Around the world, cardiovascular disease, cancer, chronic respiratory disease and diabetes account for 41 million deaths annually and 15 million of these are premature.

The study was led by Niels Lund, from Novo Nordisk in Denmark, and Laurie Twells, associate professor at the Memorial University of Newfoundland.

They created a model using body mass index (BMI) and population data.