Obesity in your 50s ‘gives you the same health problems as a 75-year-old’, study shows

Having obesity can cause you to age prematurely, with 55-year-olds who are significantly overweight expected to experience the same health problems as 75-year-olds without obesity.

Researchers in Finland and the UK carried out a study on the likelihood of multiple morbidity, whereby individuals are at risk of experiencing several health conditions at the same time, based on their age and weight. The research found that individuals with obesity are five times more likely to suffer from simple multi-morbidity and over 12 times more likely to suffer from complex multi-morbidity compared to individuals with healthy weights. The study used a group of 115,000 Finns and found that just under 20% of people with healthy weights had two health problems by the age of 75. In contrast, among those with obesity, the same proportion was reached by 55 years old. A separate study of 500,000 Britons showed similar results.

According to the study, obesity advances the age at which individuals are likely to experience health problems. While health problems such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and cancer are already known to be more likely among individuals with obesity, this study is the first to provide a quantification of how obesity can cause health problems to emerge earlier. The study found that the impact of obesity on mortality is not as significant, meaning that those who are severely overweight are more likely to suffer from health problems for many years than to die decades earlier.

The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology medical journal has published a warning by two Israeli medics about the implications of increasing numbers of older people with obesity, who may be subject to more drug side effects and interactions, adverse events, complications, hospital admissions, and disabilities. Unemployment and welfare dependency may also rise as a result.