--- title: Extreme Obesity Shaves Off 14 Years of Life, Study Finds description: Adults who suffer from extreme obesity tend to suffer a range of ailments, from organ failure to cancer, that on average shave off 14 years of life, a new study has found. canonical: https://time.com/2966892/extreme-obesity/ author: Dan Kedmey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-07-08T18:14:09.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T09:01:35.574Z article:section: Health og:title: Extreme Obesity Shaves Off 14 Years of Life, Study Finds og:description: Adults who suffer from extreme obesity tend to suffer a range of ailments, from organ failure to cancer, that on average shave off 14 years of life, a new study has found. og:url: https://time.com/2966892/extreme-obesity/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbd7c37296960149e/69869ae53bc999c7db1a46ff/74175165.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Obese Woman Walks Through Washington og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Extreme Obesity Shaves Off 14 Years of Life, Study Finds twitter:description: Adults who suffer from extreme obesity tend to suffer a range of ailments, from organ failure to cancer, that on average shave off 14 years of life, a new study has found. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbd7c37296960149e/69869ae53bc999c7db1a46ff/74175165.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Study: People With Extreme Obesity Die 14 Years Earlier Than Normal > Sponsored content. 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Health Matters is TIME's daily health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free daily newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators.  by [Dan Kedmey](https://time.com/author/dan-kedmey/)  ## Dan Kedmey Jul 8, 2014 6:14 PM UTC  An obese woman is seen on May 8, 2007 in Washington, DC. An obese woman is seen on May 8, 2007 in Washington, DC. Chris Jackson—Getty Images  by [Dan Kedmey](https://time.com/author/dan-kedmey/)  ## Dan Kedmey Jul 8, 2014 6:14 PM UTC Adults who suffer from extreme obesity tend to suffer a range of ailments, from organ failure to cancer, that on average shave 14 years off of the normal lifespan, a new study has found. Researchers at the National Cancer Institute studied an international sample of 9,500 extremely obese adults, or those who weighed roughly 100 pounds more than their recommended body weight. Compared with healthy adults, the extremely obese population tended to suffer from higher rates of life-threatening illnesses, particularly heart disease, cancer and diabetes. On average the extremely obese lost 14 years of life, matching the loss of life suffered by smokers. “While once a relatively uncommon condition, the prevalence of class III, or extreme, obesity is on the rise,” the study’s lead author, Cari Kitahara, said in a statement. “Prior to our study, little had been known about the risk of premature death associated with extreme obesity.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2966892/extreme-obesity/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2966892/extreme-obesity/"},"headline":"Study: People With Extreme Obesity Die 14 Years Earlier Than Normal","datePublished":"2014-07-08T18:14:09.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T09:01:35.574Z","description":"100 extra pounds of weight can be as lethal as cigarettes","url":"https://time.com/2966892/extreme-obesity/","keywords":["Obesity","weight","Longevity","mortality"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbd7c37296960149e/69869ae53bc999c7db1a46ff/74175165.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Dan Kedmey","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/dan-kedmey/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbd7c37296960149e/69869ae53bc999c7db1a46ff/74175165.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Obese Woman Walks Through Washington","caption":"Obese Woman Walks Through Washington","creditText":"Chris Jackson—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/obesity/","name":"Obesity"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/2966892/extreme-obesity/","name":"Study: People With Extreme Obesity Die 14 Years Earlier Than Normal"}}]}] ```