Apples for Health- Overweight just as risky as smoking

Overweight just as risky as smoking

STOCKHOLM, Sweden, Feb. 25 (UPI) -- Obese adolescents have the same risk of premature death in adulthood as people who smoke more than 10 cigarettes a day, Swedish researchers said.

Study leader Dr. Martin Neovius at Karolinska Institute in Sweden analyzed the cause of death of more than 45,000 men who underwent mandatory military conscription tests in Sweden.

The participants all had their body mass index measured and reported their smoking status at the age of 18 and were followed up for an average of 38 years. In total, the authors assessed 1.7 million person-years of follow-up in relation to the health and mortality of all the participants.

During the follow-up period 2,897 subjects died, the incidence of death was lowest for people with normal weight and highest in obese subjects.

Compared to normal weight adolescents, being overweight at the age of 18 increased the risk of premature death by just over a third, while being obese more than doubled the risk.

The study, published in the British Medical Journal, also said that being underweight carried no increased risk, irrespective of smoking status. However, being seriously underweight -- a body mass index of less than 17 -- carried the same risk of premature death as being overweight.