Overweight linked with premature death

In January 2003, the Journal of the American Medical Association featured a study that
found that obesity appears to lessen life expectancy, especially among young adults.
The researchers compared Body-Mass Index (BMI) to longevity and found a correlation
between premature death and higher BMIs. For example, a 20-year-old white male,
5’10” weighing 288 pounds with a BMI of greater than 40 was estimated to lose 13
years of his life as a result of obesity. While this study referenced extreme levels of
obesity, there are still millions of overweight Americans with a life expectancy rate that
is three to five years less than their healthy-weight counterparts.