Watch Out for Weight Gain in Youth...Obesity at the age of 17-29 increases the risk of premature death
May 13, 2025
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According to reports by the Guardian and The Times of the United Kingdom on the 12th (local time), a study by a research team from the University of Lund in Sweden, which tracked the weight changes of 620,000 Swedish adults (258,269 males and 361,784 females) aged 17 to 60 and analyzed mortality at the European Society of Obesity in Malaga, Spain, was recently published.
According to the research team, 86,673 men and 29,076 women died during the study period, and the average follow-up period for men and women was 23 and 12 years, respectively.
As a result of the study, the subjects gained about 1 pound a year on average.
Obesity increased the risk of premature death at all stages of life, but weight gain in adolescence resulted in a significantly higher mortality rate than in midlife. Risk growth has diminished with age. In particular, it was found to be very important to maintain an appropriate weight between the ages of 17 and 29, which is the `core life stage.' Increased body weight by 1 pound (0.4536 kg) in early adulthood increased the risk of premature death by 24% for men and 22% for women. In addition, men and women who became obese before the age of 30 were 79% and 84% more likely to die during the study period than those who maintained a healthy weight while young, respectively. Obesity between the ages of 30 and 45 increased the risk by 52%, and obesity between the ages of 45 and 60 increased the overall risk by about 25%.
An investigation into the cause of death revealed that heart disease, type 2 diabetes, liver cancer, kidney cancer, and uterine cancer were the most strongly associated diseases with obesity.
There were some gender differences, in women, weight gain affected the risk of cancer death regardless of which stage of life weight gain was made.
Meanwhile, the proportion of 25-34 year olds classified as obese has more than doubled since 1993.
In this regard, experts pointed out that fast food and ultra-processed foods often become more dependent on junk food and instant food as people leave home in early adulthood, especially in their early 20s, and that fast food and ultra-processed foods affect obesity during this period.
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
