Obese young people could be shortening their lives by more than eight years and storing up a future of ill health, scientists have warned. The deadly impact of a poor diet and lack of exercise has been quantified for the first time in the hope it will shock people into losing weight. Experts at McGill University in Canada calculated the risk of death from conditions like Type 2 diabetes and heart disease, which are associated with being overweight and obese. They found that obesity has the potential to knock eight years off a normal lifespan and leave adults in debilitating ill-health for a further 19 years before their deaths. It means that a very obese man in his 20s could expect to be in poor health from his early 50s and die at around 71 years old instead of the average of 79.
