Does being overweight affect your life expectancy?

With so much talk about the Body Mass Index (BMI) around, a group of British researchers, presumably as there wasn’t much on TV, decided to evaluate the BMI of almost one million people and use it as a predictor of early death. In other words, does one too many chocolates have that much of an effect on your life expectancy?

The results where shocking. People in the obese category, where the BMI is 30-35, were shown to have died up to four years earlier than expected. People who had a BMI of 40-45 reduced their lifespan by 10 years, a reduction comparable to people who smoke all their life.

It’s certainly not the only study to observe the downside of carrying extra weight. Other studies have shown:

1. Being 10kg (22lbs) overweight can cut three years off your life. If you are obese, say 20kg (44lbs) overweight, you could lose seven years.
2. Obese women have a 115% and obese men an 81% greater risk of early death after the age of 40.
3. An extra 15kg (33lbs) increases heart rate by 17 beats per minute, or 24,480 beats a day, adding stress to your most vital organ.
4. 80% of cases of Type II diabetes are caused by obesity. A weight gain as little as 5-8kg (11-18lbs) doubles the risk of developing it.
5. For every excess 1kg (2.2lbs) in body weight, the risk of death from heart disease increases 1%.

So yes, carrying extra weight (especially when combined with no exercise) is a dangerous thing to do. The good news? Increased activity and a balanced diet can help to quickly get you back to an ideal weight.

NB: If BMI’s are new to you, there is a simple calculation to work it out – take your weight in kg’s and divide it by your height in metres squared.


Once you have that number you can see where you sit on the BMI chart: