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# Overweight, obese Americans live longer than those with normal weight?  Why?
- URL: https://www.foodconsumer.org/overweight_obesity_death_risk_0103131101/
- Published: 2013-01-03T23:45:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-15T13:50:42.000Z
- Description: A commentary questioning the meta-analysis of nearly 100 studies that found overweight and grade 1 obesity carried lower mortality than normal weight. It notes Americans carry higher BMIs than the Japanese yet live shorter lives, and invites readers to send in explanations.
- Author: Food Consumer
- Tags: Disease, Health News, #vivvo-import

If you are an avid news reader, you should have read this news: A study led by the U.S. government researchers meta-analyzed data from nearly 100 studies and found people who were overweight (body mass index 25 to 30 kg/m2) and grade 1 obesity (BMI = 30 to 35) were less likely to die prematurely compared with people with a BMI of 18.5 to 25, which is considered healthy or normal.

Question: More people in the U.S. have a body mass index between 25 and 35 kg/m2, compared with people in Japan. According to this finding of the review, U.S. men and women should live longer than the Japenese. But actually, the Japenese live longer than the American. Why?

Obesity (A) if not overweight has been linked to many diseases (B) including diabetes, heart disease, metabolic syndrome, and high blood pressure. Many if not all of the diseases are linked to high risk of premature deaths (C). A leads to B and B leads to C, logically, A should lead to C. That is, supposedly having obesity should lead to higher risk of premature death. This is contradictory to the finding of the U.S. review.

Was the review meant to encourage people to develop more obesity-associated diseases?

Your comment is welcome. Please send your comment to foodconsumer.org@gmail.com.

Read the whole study report [here](http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1555137&ref=foodconsumer.org).