--- title: Study: Obesity May Shorten Life Expectancy by Up to 8 Years description: Young obese people are at most risk for loss of life canonical: https://time.com/3619251/obesity-life-expectancy/ author: Eliana Dockterman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-12-05T03:27:17.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T02:35:56.906Z article:section: Health og:title: Obesity Can Reduce Life by 8 Years og:description: And the younger one becomes obese, the more lives lost og:url: https://time.com/3619251/obesity-life-expectancy/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Obesity Can Reduce Life by 8 Years twitter:description: And the younger one becomes obese, the more lives lost twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Study: Obesity May Shorten Life Expectancy by Up to 8 Years  by [Eliana Dockterman](https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Correspondent Dec 5, 2014 3:27 AM UTC  by [Eliana Dockterman](https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Correspondent Dec 5, 2014 3:27 AM UTC A [new study](http://time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/obesity.pdf) has found that obesity can shorten one’s life by almost a decade. Researchers at McGill University linked obesity with an increased risk of developing heart disease and type 2 diabetes — ailments that dramatically reduce both life expectancy and the number of years spent free of chronic illnesses. Obesity and extreme obesity can reduce life expectancy by up to eight years and deprive people of as many as 19 years of healthy living, the study published Thursday in _The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology_ concludes. Researchers used data from the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey to create a model to estimate the risk of disease based on body weight and then examined how excess weight contributed to years of life lost. The model found that the younger someone becomes obese, the more years he or she ultimately loses. “The pattern is clear,” Dr. Steven Grover, lead author and Professor of Medicine at McGill University, said in the published study. “The more an individual weighs and the younger their age, the greater the effect on their health, as they have many years ahead of them during which the increased health risks associated with obesity can negatively impact their lives.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3619251/obesity-life-expectancy/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3619251/obesity-life-expectancy/"},"headline":"Study: Obesity May Shorten Life Expectancy by Up to 8 Years","datePublished":"2014-12-05T03:27:17.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T02:35:56.906Z","description":"Young obese people are at most risk","url":"https://time.com/3619251/obesity-life-expectancy/","keywords":["Obesity","Heart Disease","Research","type 2 diabetes"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eliana Dockterman","jobTitle":"Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[],"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/3619251/obesity-life-expectancy/","name":"Study: Obesity May Shorten Life Expectancy by Up to 8 Years"}}]}] ```