Obesity knocks 20 years of good health off your life and can accelerate death by eight years

  • Being obese deprives a person of up to two decades of healthy living
  • This is because they are likely to suffer heart disease and diabetes  
  • The figures were calculated using a computer model 
  • Researchers say this highlights need to eat healthily and take exercise 

By Jenny Hope, Medical Correspondent for the Daily Mail

Published: | Updated:

Being obese can shorten life by eight years and blight up to two decades with ill-health, warn scientists.

They used a computer model to predict the lifelong toll of being overweight.

Their calculations show that diabetes and heart disease are set to deprive an obese person of up to 19 years of healthy living.

For the very obese, with a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 35 or more, between one and eight years of life were likely to be lost.

Overweight people with BMI scores of 25 to 30 were predicted to have their lives shortened by up to three years.

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Diabetes and heart disease deprive an obese person of up to 19 years of healthy living. Being obese also knocks between one and eight years off a person's life, researchers found 

Diabetes and heart disease deprive an obese person of up to 19 years of healthy living. Being obese also knocks between one and eight years off a person's life, researchers found 

Body mass index (BMI), a measurement relating weight to height, is used to assess whether an individual is overweight.

A healthy or normal weight is a BMI score of 18.5 to 24.99 - above that is a sliding scale to life-threatening fatness.

Between 25 and 29.9 is defined as 'overweight' and a BMI over 30 is defined as clinically obese, although the result may be misleading for sportsmen and women, and pregnant women.

A BMI of 35-plus is described as ‘morbidly obese’.

Lead researcher Professor Steven Grover, from McGill University in Montreal, Canada, said: ‘Our computer modelling study shows that obesity is associated with an increased risk of developing heart disease and stroke, and diabetes.

'This will, on average, dramatically reduce an individual's life expectancy and the healthy life-years free from living with these chronic illnesses compared with people of normal weight.

‘The pattern is clear.

‘The more an individual weighs and the younger their age, the greater the effect on their health, as they have many years ahead of them during which the increased health risks associated with obesity can negatively impact their lives.’

ONE IN TEN BRITISH CHILDREN ARE OBESE WHEN THEY START PRIMARY SCHOOL 

One in ten children are obese when they start school at the age of four or five, figures show.

This rises to one in five by the final year of primary school when they are ten or 11.

But rates vary across England and are generally much higher in the most deprived areas.

Hackney in East London, for example, has the highest level of obesity, with 14.4 per cent of reception age children – one in seven – and 26.1 per cent of those in Year 6 affected.

The Government had been hoping rates were starting to stabilise or fall, but this year they are back up.

Figures from the Health and Social Care Information Centre show that 22.5 per cent of reception age children are obese or overweight, up from 22.2 per cent last year. For children in Year 6, aged ten or 11, the rate is 33.5 per cent, compared with 33.3 per cent last year.

With the figures released a week earlier than usual, campaigners accused the Government of trying to bury bad news on the day of the Autumn Statement.

The HSCIC denied this, saying the data had been ready sooner and pointing out that the Department of Health had no influence on the publication date.

Tam Fry, of the National Obesity Forum, said: ‘It’s very sad – we’re just letting our children get fatter and fatter. 

In 2012, one-quarter of men and women in England were classified as obese, up from figures in 1993 of 13.2 per cent and 16.4 per cent respectively, according to latest figures.

The number of overweight people also rocketed by around 10 per cent over the same two decades, soaring to two thirds of men and 57 per cent of women in 2012, says the Health & Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC).

The new study analysed the contribution of being overweight and obese to years of life and healthy living lost in adults aged between 20 and 79.

Researchers used data from the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, which combines personal interviews with physical examinations, diagnostic procedures and tests.

The data was run through a disease-stimulation model to estimate the risk of developing diabetes and cardiovascular disease in adults of different body weight.

The effect of excess weight on cutting life short was greatest for the young and fell with increasing age, says the study published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology journal.

Obese young adults also suffered the greatest loss in terms of healthy years, compared to people of normal weight.

Professor Grover said: ‘These clinically meaningful calculations should prove useful for obese individuals and health professionals to better appreciate the scale of the problem and the substantial benefits of a healthier lifestyle including changes to diet and regular physical activity.’

Overweight individuals were estimated to lose between 0 and 3 years of life expectancy, depending on their age and gender.

Obese people were estimated to lose between 1 and 6 years, with the very obese losing between 1 and 8 years.

Excess weight also affects the duration of time when people can expect to be free of obesity-associated cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

The study shows being overweight or obese is associated with two to four times as many healthy life-years lost than total years of life lost.

The highest losses in healthy life-years were in young adults aged between 20 and 29 years old, amounting to around 19 years for very obese men and women.

Obesity is associated with an increased risk of developing heart disease and stroke, and diabetes. In 2012, 25 per cent of men and women in England were classified as obese

Obesity is associated with an increased risk of developing heart disease and stroke, and diabetes. In 2012, 25 per cent of men and women in England were classified as obese

Previous research suggests carrying an extra two stones in weight over and above the ‘healthy’ range is clearly linked with higher risk of some cancers, and the risk goes up with further weight gain.

Maureen Talbot, Senior Cardiac Nurse at the British Heart Foundation, said: ‘The results of this study put the health consequences of being overweight into terms we can all understand.

‘The model also demonstrates that if you’re overweight at a younger age, the impact on your health is much greater. Both in life expectancy and in the years of life free from chronic diseases.

‘It reinforces the importance of adopting heart healthy habits like keeping our weight down, eating healthily and being physically active, throughout our lives.

‘Have a chat with your GP if you’re overweight and worried what effect it is having on your health.’ 

 

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