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[ElectricBlanketFire]

One year if you're simply overweight.

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.

 

[Hickbilly Deluxe]

3 years is a light price to pay for eating a double bacon cheeseburger for lunch every day.

 

[ColdPizza]

3 years is a light price to pay for eating a double bacon cheeseburger for lunch every day.

Here here

 

[Bigfoot]

3 years is a light price to pay for eating a double bacon cheeseburger for lunch every day.

Exactly! I was expecting a much larger difference than just 3 years off your life for being obese. No more exercise for me.

 

[Beer Monkey]

3 years is a light price to pay for eating a double bacon cheeseburger for lunch every day.

Eating one once a week is pretty sweet IMO.

 

[excelsiorlef]

3 years is a light price to pay for eating a double bacon cheeseburger for lunch every day.

Pretty much right?

3 years? Fuck it I'm in a better position to enjoy life now then I will be then.

 

[Tagyhag]

Honestly I thought it'd be more, but that's still 3 years too many.

 

[dsp]

1 year if you're just overweight? I'm going out for a pizza.

 

[Skellig Gra]

3 years is a light price to pay for eating a double bacon cheeseburger for lunch every day.

Not really that simple. You may be dead 3 years earlier but there all kinds of quality of life issues to consider as well.

 

[Ivan 3414]

Only three years?

IDK I'd give a couple of them up if I could eat what I want

 

[User 479360]

Expected a lot more to be honest.

I'm not morbidly obese, but I'm decently overweight, so probably 1-1.5 years or so. Meh.

 

[ieptbarakat]

Three less years of being a frail old person and a lifetime of delicious unhealthiness, I'd say that's a good deal if any.

 

[dsp]

Not really that simple. You may be dead 3 years earlier but there all kinds of quality of life issues to consider as well.

Don't ruin this with facts.

 

[Rebel Leader]

Shocking news: Study is counter productive as cheeseburgers sales rise 17% due to study

 

[CadetMahoney]

Which one is the worst one again, obese or overweight?

I need to look up my chart again.

 

[NomarTyme]

I worry more about quality of life than longevity.

 

[Infinite]

Three years? That's light

 

[Scrooge McDuck]

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.

 

[ugaboga232]

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

 

[FStop7]

I worry more about quality of life than longevity.

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.

 

[User 479360]

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.

That's true

I guess it'd be different if I enjoyed living.

 

[Skellig Gra]

Don't ruin this with facts.

Lol I'll see myself out

 

[Torokil]

Which one is the worst one again, obese or overweight?

I need to look up my chart again.

Obesity is BMI 30 or over
Overweight is 25-29.9

 

[Hickbilly Deluxe]

Not really that simple. You may be dead 3 years earlier but there all kinds of quality of life issues to consider as well.

Most people didn't expect me to reach 30. If I hit 50, I will consider it a life of victory.

 

[entremet]

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.

 

[Kettch]

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.

 

[hockeypuck]

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.

 

[User1608]

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.

 

[CreepingFear]

3 years for eating pepperoni pizza? Sure. Fuck it!

 

[DontBeThatGuy]

Only 3? Hmmm, let me think about this.

 

[Goro Majima]

Not terribly surprised.

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

 

[void666]

Three years? I'm ok with this.

 

[bionic77]

3 years is a light price to pay for eating a double bacon cheeseburger for lunch every day.

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...

 

[Krappadizzle]

Small penalty for bacon. I accept.

 

[N.Domixis]

I'm going to enjoy eating whatever until it kills me, its the only chance I get.

 

[UnemployedVillain]

Only 3 years? Seems like being a ginger is worse than being obese

 

[Strangelove77]

I like those odds. Dominos has a half off deal right now as a matter of fact.

 

[Faustek]

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?

 

[Cagey]

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.

Yep. Decades of progressively worse quality of life culminating in dying 3 years earlier.

I'll stick with my vanity.

 

[freenudemacusers]

not sure why people are so happy about losing three years, when you spend the rest of them overweight and unattractive.

 

[davepoobond]

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.

 

[Dai101]

3 years is a light price to pay for eating a double bacon cheeseburger for lunch every day.

 

[Lord Fagan]

 

[MHWilliams]

3 years at the end. Worth it.

 

[Defuser]

Some obese person : "3 years? Time to get healthy!"

*Drinks diet coke*

 

[neshcom]

3 years might as well be margin of error given how long the average lifespan is now.

 

[hockeypuck]

3 years might as well be margin of error given how long the average lifespan is now.

Typically margin of error is taken into account when calculating for statistical significance.

Edit: nevermind, misread.

 

[Wag]

3 years is a light price to pay for eating a double bacon cheeseburger for lunch every day.

If I eat 2 a day do they cancel each other out?

 

[-Plasma Reus-]

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.

 

[Kayo Police]

I'm kinda surprised it's only 3 years. What is the point of me even going to the gym the past year?