Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
The New York Times recently reported on a
study highlighting the increasing risks for overweight teens – they’re as
likely to die by age 60 as those who smoke lightly. Obese teens, like heavy
smokers, have a double risk of an early death. This is a different set of
results compared to other recent studies suggesting that those who are
overweight were not at a higher risk of premature death.
Originally published in the British Medical
Journal, the study tracked the death rates of 45,290 Swedish men over 38 years.
The study only included men enrolling in the Swedish Army in 1969 and 1970, but
compared the risk to normal-weight recruits who smoked a half a pack of
cigarettes or more a day (aka “heavy” smokers).
Critics are pointing out that because health
behaviors are established earlier in life, those overweight at age 18 may have
become obese and thus the deaths may reflect the risk of obesity, rather than
being a result of being overweight as teens.
Here’s the link to the article and a link to
the study and here’s hoping this has some impact on persuading us all not to
pick up that second doughnut … or first!
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