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Shocking news: Moderately obese people die up to three years prematurely

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E

ElectricBlanketFire

Member
One year if you're simply overweight.

AP London said:
LONDON (AP) — Being too heavy may cost you your life — literally. Scientists say overweight people die one year earlier than expected and that moderately obese people die up to three years prematurely.

Doctors have long warned that being overweight can lead to health complications including heart disease, stroke and cancer, and previous studies have already found that extra pounds can take years off your life, based mostly on data from Europe and North America.

In the new study, which the authors say is the largest-ever such analysis, researchers sifted through data for nearly 4 million non-smoking adults in 32 countries published from 1970 to last year. They compared the risk of death to people's body mass index, or BMI, a measure of body fat that is calculated using height and weight.

They defined a BMI from 18.5 to 25 as normal, 25-30 as overweight, 30-35 as moderately obese and over 40 as severely obese. A person who is 5 foot 4 is considered obese at a weight of 174 pounds or more.

Overweight people lose a year of life on average and moderately overweight people lose 3 years, said Richard Peto of Oxford University, one of the study authors. A previous study found that being severely obese could cost as much as 8 years of life.

The study also found that being obese is far more dangerous for men than for women.
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S

Scrooge McDuck

Member
Three years might not seem much, but I imagine if you actually liked living and on your last gasps of breath, you'd be thinking very differently.
 
U

ugaboga232

Member
Obesity sucks, as does diabetes, heart disease, chronic kidney disease, liver damage and all the really shitty chronic diseases (plus increased risk of cancer). It does seem in a cruel twist of fate or whatever that obesity and being overweight are the new normal as thats what we were programmed to be.

Tl;dr dialysis sucks even if you can live almost as long
 
F

FStop7

Banned
NomarTyme said:
I worry more about quality of life than longevity.
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This. My parents have been overweight for years and now they're facing so many health issues as they cross into their 70s. It's been one thing after another and it's prevented them from being able to enjoy their retirement together.
 
entremet

entremet

Member
I have an obese grandma. Her knees are shot, diabetic, tons of joint pains.

Yeah, not going there if I live to her age. It really affects her quality of life.
 
K

Kettch

Member
Does the study include underweight as well? Maybe I can motivate myself to stuff more food in if I know how many years I'm losing.
 
H

hockeypuck

Member
Am I just blind or does the AP actually not reference the journal this study is published? Poorly edited article.

Edit: "up to" three years for the moderately obese? Did the statistics not show examples of >3 years premature death or did the journalists just confuse "up to" with "average"? The journalists just couldn't write that the average moderately obese person died 3 years premature? Was that too simplistic? What a stupid way to describe statistical findings.
 
U

User1608

Banned
I'm definitely back to being obese.:/ Better get back to being a healthy weight, gained like 27 lbs since the year began.

I've had waaaay too much pizza.
 
Goro Majima

Goro Majima

Kitty Genovese Member
Not terribly surprised.

Modern medicine is awesome at keeping people alive but the quality of life can be shit.
 
B

bionic77

Member
'77 Shortbox said:
3 years is a light price to pay for eating a double bacon cheeseburger for lunch every day.
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Not to mention not having to kill yourself lifting weights and exercising...

I am changing camps. Camp healthy is a losing proposition. I always wondered what it would be like to be overweight...
 
F

Faustek

Member
But BMI is a Just a shitty way to measure anything. But a question.... How are you "moderately" obese? Like hey, I'm just obesish?
 
C

Cagey

Banned
entremet said:
I have an obese grandma. Her knees are shot, diabetic, tons of joint pains.

Yeah, not going there if I live to her age. It really affects her quality of life.
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Yep. Decades of progressively worse quality of life culminating in dying 3 years earlier.

I'll stick with my vanity.
 
davepoobond

davepoobond

you can't put a price on sparks
73 years of misery or 70 years of happiness


YOU CHOOSE


also you're probably going to die from something unrelated to your weight anyway.
 
D

Dai101

Banned
'77 Shortbox said:
3 years is a light price to pay for eating a double bacon cheeseburger for lunch every day.
Click to expand...

giphy.gif
 
-Plasma Reus-

-Plasma Reus-

Service guarantees member status
Eat fastfood all my life, live up to 63.
Eat crappy healthy food all my life, live up to 66.

What's the point of living another three years in my sixties.
 
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