Obesity shortens life with four years

According to a new study, obese American adults die with an average of four years earlier, compared to normal weight people, while middle-aged adults with obesity are mostly predisposed to early death.

“It is time that we treat obesity as a medical illness, because, as with other chronic diseases, it causes premature death,” said Dr. Suzanne Steinbaum, a preventive cardiologist at Lenox Hospital, situated in New Work who wasn`t involved in the study.

Lalitha Samuel and r. Luisa Borrell, two researchers of the City University of New York collected and reviewed data between 1988 and 1994 and discovered that 20% of deaths are associated with obesity or heart disease. Adults with obesity died 3.7 years earlier and others with heart disease, 1.7 years earlier, compared to normal weight patients.

The research also proves that the mostly predisposed obese adults to death are aged between 45 and 64. Kelly Hogan, a clinical dietitian at Mount Sinai Hospital, situated in New York believes that this impact could be greater in the future.