14 DAY TRIAL // A recent study led by researcher Dr. Frank B. Hu, associate professor of Nutrition and Epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health showed that people that gain weight during their adolescence are three times more likely to suffer from premature death.
The medical team at Harvard School has carried out a study in order to analyze the link between obesity in teen years and early deaths of women. In this respect, they have investigated the cases of more than 100000 US obese women. Some of the women in the study developed obesity while teenagers, while some later in life.
The results showed that many of these women died prematurely due to various causes such as: suicide, cancer, diabetes, heart disease etc. Namely, 66% of the women that were overweight in their teen years died prematurely; while those who were thin in that period recorded lower such rates of mortality.
Even if people that are obese during adolescence have increased risks to remain overweight later in life, those who have not been obese while young have reduced chances to die prematurely. The researchers that developed the study stated that this could lead to a link between obesity and serious disease risk in childhood and adolescence. It seems that the risk of serious conditions associated with obesity diminishes later in life.
Even if losing weight later in life is known to reduce severity of some diseases, it is not certain to result in the complete removal of health disorders in once obese people. "Losing weight can certainly reduce the risks, but whether it completely eliminates them is unclear. This is further evidence that childhood obesity is a major public health problem," Dr. Frank B. Hu said and added: "Childhood obesity not only has health consequences for children, but increases the risk for death in adulthood."