A team of researchers at Lund University says that your health over a lifetime is affected not just by whether you gain weight but by when you gain it. And putting on extra pounds in early adulthood is most strongly linked to a higher risk of dying prematurely.
The large, long-term study included more than 600,000 people aged 17 to 60. The researchers tracked how weight gain affected health over time.
Participants who first developed at ages 17–29 died about 70 percent more often from any cause compared with people who did not develop obesity. Each extra kilogram gained during that period increased the risk of early death in women by 22 percent and in men by 24 percent.
“The most consistent finding is that weight gain in young adulthood is associated with a higher risk of premature death later in life, compared with people who gain less weight.” Tanya Stokes, epidemiologist and lead author of the study.
The researchers suggest that living longer under the biological stress caused by excess weight — when the body faces greater strain and higher wear-and-tear — may explain the higher risk of premature death.
The team tracked overall mortality and deaths tied to several obesity-related diseases. Those included:
- several
As expected, people who gained the most weight across all age groups were more likely to die during the study period — mostly from cardiovascular disease, including heart attacks and strokes.
Data on elevated all-cause mortality and cardiovascular mortality linked to early weight gain and the development of obesity suggest that the key risk factor may not be weight gain in later adulthood but the duration of obesity, the article in eClinicalMedicine (The Lancet) says.
The scientists say their results should remind healthcare workers that obesity prevention needs to start as early as possible.
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