Being obese can shorten life by eight years, study shows

Being obese can shorten life by eight years and condemn a person to almost two decades of ill-health, new research has shown.

Scientists used a computer model to predict that diabetes and heart disease were likely to deprive an obese person of up to 19 years of healthy living.

For the very obese, with a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 35 or more, between one and eight years of life were likely to be lost.