Young, Obese Men May Not Make It to Middle Age, Study Finds

shocking but seems true to some extent .......But how do I loose weight?????...Alok

MONDAY, April 29, 2013 — Men in their twenties who are obese may want to consider starting their mid-life crisis a little early, based on the findings of a study published today in the journal BMJ Open.

A group of young, overweight men were found to be 30 percent more likely to die before or during middle age than those of normal weight, and nearly half developed serious health conditions before age 55, according to the study.

Researchers from Aarhus University Hospital in Denmark followed 6,500 men for 33 years, starting when they were between the ages of 22 and 33. The men who were obese in their twenties and early thirties fared far worse than men of normal weight, researchers said.

“We found that nearly half of all obese young men either were diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, hypertension, myocardial infarction, stroke or venous thromboembolism or died before reaching 55 years of age,” researchers wrote in the study.

Overall, men who were obese when the study began were 30 percent more likely to die before reaching middle age than men who were not obese, researchers said. They attributed the increased risk of death to the onset of serious health problems. 

With the obesity rate nearing 30 percent in the U.S. and abroad, the researchers said, “obesity-related morbidity and mortality will, in decades to come, place an unprecedented burden on healthcare systems worldwide.”

The findings are not surprising, said Dara Cohen, MD, professor of medicine, endocrinology, diabetes and bone disease at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Obesity can lead to a host of metabolic diseases that can cut your life short.

“People tend to think that the things we do when we’re younger don’t catch up with us, but this shows that’s not the case,” she said. “The things we do when we’re younger do affect us as we get older.”

But while the findings, which likely apply to obese women as well, indicate that young obese men have are significantly more likely to develop a serious health condition or die by middle age, Dr. Cohen said it’s not too late to make a change.

“Eating less and exercising more, and making healthy food changes can make a huge difference,” she said.” It can help you lose weight and ward off diabetes and cardiovascular disease.”

However, beating obesity is difficult, Cohen said, which makes it more important to stop kids and young adults from becoming obese in the first place. Preventing obesity begins in the classroom, she said, andteaching kids how to exercise and eat healthy can help them live long, healthy lives.

“Changing school lunches is important, and we need to teach kids to be active and play sports instead of video games,” Cohen said. “We need to teach them from a young age to make smart choices.”

“It’s always easier to prevent obesity than treat it,” she added.

http://www.everydayhealth.com/healthy-living/young-obese-men-may-not-make-it-to-middle-age-study-finds-7662.aspx?xid=nl_EverydayHealthMensHealth_20130506