Obese at 20: Double the risk of obesity death

By Brandie Umar - Executive Director of Content | July 14th, 2010

A new study shows being obese at the age of 20 doubles the risk of premature obesity related death. Health professionals are divided over whether obesity teenagers should be offered weight loss surgery procedures such as Gastric Bypass. The study, by Copenhagen University Hospital, could be used to support doctors who claim teenagers should be offered bariatric surgery to prevent health complications later in life.

The experts who conducted the research were unable to determine whether being obese at 20 instigated health problems later; or whether being obese at 20 led to obesity becoming a life-long condition triggering later complications.

Either way, the results clearly show that those with a BMI of 30+ at age 20 are likely to die at least 8 years before 20 year-olds of a healthy weight.

3,600 healthy weight people were used as a control group against almost 2,000 obese 20 year olds. The results showed that people obese at 20 struggle to lose weight later and that an obese person has double the risk of dying from long-term health complications related to obesity or sudden illness which is linked to obesity such as a heart attack. This 50% increased risk of death continued throughout the lives of the subjects analyzed. The study determined that as a persons BMI (body mass index) raises by one point, the risk of death increases 10%.