Obesity more deadly than previously thought
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By Rebecca Smith
Wednesday Dec 23 2009
Being overweight is more deadly than previous thought as scientists discover increasing bodyweight increases the risk of dying from heart disease almost two-fold.
A study of one million father and son pairs found that being overweight may increase the risk of dying from cardiovascular disease by 82 per cent.
The research carried out by the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm and published online in the British Medical Journal attempted to iron out mistakes in previous studies and used the child's body mass index in association with the parent's cause of death.
This was to stop problems where certain diseases such as cancer that can cause weight loss, making it appear that thin people were at greater risk of dying.
It was found that this was not the case for lung cancer and being overweight, not underweight, made it more likely they would die from lung cancer. The results also showed that obesity posed a far greater risk for dying of heart disease than previously thought.
- Rebecca Smith
© Telegraph.co.uk
