Obesity

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Jan 07 - Obesity can, on average, cut more than a decade from a person's life; for black men it can shorten life by up to 20 years, the results of a new US study indicate.

The findings, which are published in the January 8th issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, support the idea that excess body weight is a health problem, and may spur physicians and public health officials to redouble efforts to address the growing obesity epidemic.

"Excess weight has not received the same attention from clinicians and policymakers as have other threats to health such as tobacco use, hypertension, or (high cholesterol)," Drs. JoAnn E. Manson and Shari S. Bassuk, from Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, write in an accompanying editorial. "It is not surprising that obesity rates continue to climb."

The findings show that "obesity has a profound effect on life span," study author Dr. David B. Allison, from the University of Alabama in Birmingham, and colleagues state.

According to the report, obesity is particularly dangerous for younger adults. Severely obese white men, 20 to 30 years of age, live about 13 fewer years than others in the general population. Severely obese white women can expect to live eight fewer years than their non-obese counterparts.

Obesity also had a profound effect on the lifespan of younger blacks. Obese black men, 20 to 30 years of age, lose about 20 years and obese black women lose about 5 years of life, even after adjusting the data for smoking.

In the study based on national survey data, white adults with a body mass index (BMI) of 23 to 25 and black adults with a BMI of 23 to 30 lived the longest.

The findings quantify the health risks associated with obesity, especially for young and middle-aged adults. Because about two thirds of the US adult population is overweight or obese, the findings portend an ongoing health crisis, the researchers warn.

The authors call for more research, particularly into the apparent racial differences observed. Nonetheless, the findings "confirm that obesity is a major public health problem that appears to lessen life expectancy markedly, especially among individuals in younger age groups," Dr. Allison and colleagues conclude.