Your life – Smoking and Weight
Most people realize that smoking tobacco can cause many health problems and may shorten your life.
New research clearly shows that being overweight also can both cause health problems and shorten your life.
A study from Oxford University published in Lancet (a premier medical journal from Britain) shows that weighing too much may shorten your life by 10 years or more. This study was very large – it involved 900,000 patients who were followed for 10 to 15 years. It is large enough to be statistically valid.
The study, by Drs. Peto and Whitlock, shows that “obesity causes heart disease and stroke by pushing up blood pressure, mucking up blood cholesterol and triggering diabetes”. In fact, excess weight is the main cause of adult diabetes.
In addition, being overweight has been associated with increased morbidity, including heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, gallbladder disease, infertility, osteoarthritis, and a variety of cancers, including breast, uterine and colon cancers. The direct annual healthcare costs in the United States of excess weight are greater than 100 billion dollars.
The current study documents a shortening of one’s lifespan due to excess weight. The study found that “Adults who are obese -about 40 or more pounds over a healthy weight- may be cutting about three years off their lives, mostly from heart disease and stroke.” In addition, “Those who are extremely obese -about 100 or more pounds over a healthy weight- could be shortening their lives by as many as 10 years”.
Excess weight causes disease, decreases the quality of life and shortens one’s life – similar to the effects of lifelong smoking. “If you continue to smoke, it takes an average of 10 years off your life. Being obese has about the same effect,” states Dr. Thun of the American Cancer Society.
The Lancet has also reported that “Above a healthy weight, every 5-point increase in BMI increases the risk of early death by about 30 percent.” “People who are overweight but not obese, with a BMI between 25 and 29.9 could be shortening their life span by a year.”
This is a “valuable study that provides a much clearer picture of the risk associated with various levels of being overweight or obese,” says Dr. Thun. “What is particularly worrisome in the United States is that more than a third of people now qualify as obese, and a subset of people are becoming progressively more obese. Once you gain weight, it’s hard to lose it and easy to gain more.”
Excess weight, like smoking, will shorten your lifespan and decrease the quality of your life. The sooner one gets to and maintains their optimal weight; the better a person can avoid the diseases and physical, psychological, and behavioral problems associated with excess weight.
Where do you stand?
A Body Mass Index (BMI) greater than 30 is considered obese and a BMI 25 to 29.9 is considered overweight. To calculate your BMI, we have included the formula below:
BMI = (Weight pounds Height inches2) x 703
Stephen F. Scholle, M.D., Ph.D. practices Family Medicine, Dermatology and in addition has the MEDI WeightLoss program in his office. The office is in the Key Estero Center at 1661 Estero Blvd., Ste. # 1, on Fort Myers Beach. For more information, please call 239-765-0007.