Obesity is a Silent Killer: Causes Three Times More Deaths

Obesity causes more harm than previously imagined. A new study from Columbia University found that it causes three times as many deaths among middle-aged and older Americans.

The researchers analyzed data from 19 survey years of the National Health Interview Survey, a yearly household survey of roughly 40,000 households. That data was linked to individual National Death Index mortality records.

Researchers found that obesity accounted for nearly 20 percent of deaths among white and black Americans between the ages of 40 and 85. Previously, many scientists estimated that about 5 percent of deaths could be attributed to obesity.

"Obesity has dramatically worse health consequences than some recent reports have led us to believe," says first author Ryan Masters, PhD, who conducted the research as a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health & Society Scholar at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health. "We expect that obesity will be responsible for an increasing share of deaths in the United States and perhaps even lead to declines in U.S. life expectancy."

*The estimated percentage of adult deaths associated with overweight and obesity was 5 percent for black men; 15 percent for white men; 26.8 percent for black women; and 21.7 percent for white women.

"The prevalence for obesity between men and women and race ethnic groups is vastly different," Masters said. "We found it was worthwhile to explore that."

Obesity can lead to negative health consequences such as heart disease, stroke and diabetes. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that more than one-third of American adults (35.7 percent) are obese.

 'A five-year-old growing up today is living in an environment where obesity is much more the norm than was the case a generation or two ago. Drink sizes are bigger, clothes are bigger, and greater numbers of a child's peers are obese.'

Dr Masters warned the worst was far from over, adding: 'Once someone is obese, it is very difficult to undo. So it stands to reason that we won't see the worst of the epidemic until the current generation of children grows old.'