Being obese is as deadly as smoking ten a day

Published on Tuesday 24 February 2009 21:48

OBESITY increases the risk of dying just as much as smoking, research out today has suggested.

A study found being an obese non-smoker was the same as a healthy-weight person smoking more than ten cigarettes a day.

Experts looked at weight and smoking status of almost 46,000 men at the age of 18 and followed them up for 38 years. They found being obese or smoking more than ten cigarettes a day doubled the risk of dying prematurely.

Meanwhile, being overweight or smoking one to ten cigarettes a day increased the chance of dying prematurely by more than 30 per cent.

Being obese and a heavy smoker increased the risks, but other combinations of weight and smoking did not appear to have that effect.

The authors said this highlighted that being overweight or obese was linked with early death, regardless of whether a person smoked.

Writing in the British Medical Journal, they said: "Obesity and overweight were as hazardous as heavy and light smoking respectively."