A little bit too much weight can do you harm
Baby boomers who are just a little bit overweight are more likely to die prematurely than those who maintain a healthy weight, despite arguments that ‘a few extra’ kilograms does little harm.
A US study of 500,000 people aged 50-71 conducted over a 10 year period showed that those who were underweight or obese had an increased risk of death compared with normal weight people.
A separate study of 186,000 healthy people who had never smoked, overweight people were 20-20% more likely to die prematurely than normal-weight people.
