A new study indicates that men who suffer from obesity by the age of 20 are more likely to die, on average, eight years before their counterparts who are not obese.
Presented in Stockholm at the International Congress on Obesity, the research points towards the fact that obesity tends to develop before a person turns 20, and also that obesity is unlikely to develop later on.
The study was carried out amongst 5000 military conscripts ranging from the ages of 20 to 80 years. Around 2,000 of the participants were obese when the research began.
The results of the research indicate that premature death in obese men went up by 10% at every single point that exceeded the healthy level of 25 body mass index points. Figuring out a person’s body fat via a calculation which uses your weight and height is what is referred to as body mass index.
Esther Zimmermann of Copenhagen University Hospital who was the head of the study stated that at the age of 70, 70% of the males in the comparison group and 50% of them in the obese group were alive and well. Taking off from this, she said that they made an estimation that from the middle-aged years, obese men were more likely to die 8 years prior to their counterparts in the comparison group.
Zimmerman also said that other factors that were taken into consideration while carrying out the research were education, year of birth and smoking – however, hereditary diseases and other such factors were not.