Obese Teens Have Double the Risk of Premature Death Studies show

Obese teens that enter adult life while being overweight have double the risk of premature death. Researchers studies some 5000 military personnel age 20 to 80. They have found out that within all age groups, overweight and obese people had a greater risk of death.

The frightening result discovered was that obesity in young adults in their early twenties could cause death up to even 60 years later.

That’s one hell of a curse if you ask me. Simply by being obese a short part of your life, namely in your youth you can drastically affect and damage your future health. And if you stop and think about it, it becomes pretty obvious. 50 extra pounds during your growth period isn’t the same as 50 extra pounds in your thirties. And not just physically different but also psychologically. A young man or woman growing up being overweight will probably suffer more than someone who grew up normal and just gained weight later on. The pressure of wanting to be slim and look good naked, as seen by society, is astonishing. But this pressure dissipates as we age and we just don’t care anymore. But more about the psychological effects of obesity in another article.

As I was saying. Growing up overweight can affect you even as long as 60 years later. Even if you lose weight later you can still end up suffering, but not as much if you remain obese for the rest of your life.

The study focused on two groups. One of obese and overweight men and the other of normal men used as the control group. At age 70, 70% of the normal men were still alive while 50% of the obese men had died. Also the study showed that an obese man on average lives a shorter life by 8 years.

If you remember those studies done in the 90’s about smoking and smoker, on average a smoker was said to shorten his life by 8 years.

Obesity has taken the role of smoking in our society, and in my opinion it is much more dangerous.