Researachers from Harvard and MIchigan have concluded that the health consequences of obesity in our population will offset the health gains made by a significant reduction in smoking in our population.  The conclusion in this study was that the increase in life expectancy that our population should experience as a result of decreasing smoking behavior, will be reduced because of the dramatic increase in obesity.  Alarmingly, if past trends continue, nearly half of our population-45 percent- will be obese by the year 2020.

A dramatic study, published in the British Medical Journal, revealed that teens with obesity had a similar risk of premature death as those who smoked half a pack of cigarretes a day.  In this study, nearly 46,000 Swedish men were followed over 38 years.  The men who were obese at age 18 were two times more likely to die by age 60 compared to men who were of normal weight.  This was about the same risk faced by the normal weight men who smoked half a pack of cigarettes or more a day. 

Given that smoking is known to be the most important cause of preventable death,  it is quite dramatic that obesity is apparently as lethal.