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# Overweight, obesity linked to higher death risk
- URL: https://www.foodconsumer.org/obesity_linked_to_higher_mortality_0603110617/
- Published: 2011-06-03T19:16:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-22T16:20:04.000Z
- Description: Following 6,603 Taiwanese adults aged 20 to 65 for 24 years, researchers found a BMI of 25 to 26.9 carried a 28 percent higher risk of death and a BMI of 27 or above a 46 percent higher risk, with the steepest increases in deaths from diabetes.
- Author: Food Consumer
- Tags: Disease, Health News, Obesity, Death, #vivvo-import

By David Liu, Ph.D. and editing by Elizabeth Hutchinson

Friday June 3, 2011 (foodconsumer.org) -- A new study suggests that being overweight or obese can increase the risk of dying from various diseases including cancer, heart attack and stroke, and diabetes.

The study in the May 2011 issue of the Journal of the Formosan Medical Association showed that people with a body mass index (BMI) of 25 to 26.9 kg/m2 were 28 percent more likely to die. The increase in the risk of death in those with a BMI of 27 or higher kg/m2 was 46 percent.

L.C. Hwang and colleagues from Mackay Medicine, Nursing and Management College in Taipei, Taiwan analyzed data collected from 6,603 men and women aged 20 to 65 years during a 24-year follow-up and found the associations.

At the baseline, the average BMI was 22.7 kg/m2\. During the follow-up, 1,896 men and women, or 28.7 percent of the study population, died.

The researchers found that positive associations were observed in those who died from diabetes, cardiovascular disease, or cancer.

To be specific, the net increase in the risk of dying from diabetes was 93 percent among those who had a BMI of 23 to 24.9 kg/m2 or higher, 159 percent among those who had had a BMI of 25 to 26.9 kg/m2 and 203 percent among those who had a BMI of 27 kg/m2 or higher.

Hwang et al. concluded that a BMI of 23 kg/m2 or higher was correlated with increased mortality from diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. A BMI of 25 or higher kg/m2 can be used to predict the risk for all-cause mortality and a BMI of 27 kg/m2 or higher can be used to predict death risk from cancer.