Compared to people of normal weight, being obese increases the risk of death from cancer by 7 percent, increases the death from all causes by 22 percent, increases the risk of death from coronary heart disease by 57 percent, and increases the risk of death from cardiovascular disease by 48 percent according to a analysis of data from twenty-six studies.

“Bariatric surgery [is safe and] should be considered for treating patients with [coronary artery disease] and class II or III obesity [that is a body mass index of 35 or above],” concludes a study from the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine in Rochester, Minnesota, USA.

Xenical (orlistat) helped obese patients with congestive heart failure lose an average of 18.8 lbs and provided some symptom relief as evident by an improvement in how far they could walk in 6 minutes and their functional capacity according to a new study from the University of Ottawa Heart Institute in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

Intentional weight loss due to personal choice is associated with a 41 percent decrease in the risk of death in older men according to a new study from the Royal Free and University College Medical School in London, England.

Being overweight increases the risk of type 2 diabetes more than any other disease. Type 2 diabetes increases the risk of having a heart attack as much non-diabetics who have previously had a heart attack according to 1998 study.

Obesity increases the risk of death from coronary heart disease by 51 percent in men and 62 percent in women according to a new paper from Daniel L. McGee, statistician at Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida who analyzed data from twenty-six studies.

Obesity increases the risk of dying from cardiovascular disease by 45 percent in men and 53 percent in women according to a new paper.

“Both increased [body fat] and reduced physical activity are strong and independent predictors of death [in women],” according to a new study from researchers at Harvard.

The risk of death increases modestly in people who are overweight (a BMI of 25 to 29.9), but increases substantially in someone obese (a BMI of 30 or more) according to the U.S. NIH’s Obesity Guidelines (p. 21).

The risk of coronary heart disease increases with BMI. In women, the risk of coronary heart disease is twice as great for overweight women (BMI 25-28.9) as lean women (BMI of 21 or less), and three times as great for obese women (BMI 29 or more) according to the Nurse’s Health Study. (p. 16)

A five pound weight loss over 16 years decreases risk factors for coronary heart disease by 48 percent in men and 40 percent in women, whereas a five pound weight gain increases risk factors by 20 percent in men and 37 percent in women according to a recent analysis of the famous Framingham Heart Study.

In post-menopausal women, high glycemic index diets are associated with higher C-reactive protein levels—a marker of low grade chronic inflammation—, high triglycerides and lower HDL levels, all of which increase the risk of cardiovascular disease according to a recent paper.

C-Reative protein is an independent risk factor for coronary heart disease. A low-carbohydrate diet is better than a conventional low-calorie diet at reducing high levels of C-reative protein according to a new study.

Abdominal obesity increases the risk of a heart attack by 12 to 62 percent independently of other risk factors according to a new study published in the Lancet.

Obesity increases the risk of cardioascular disease. One study found that being 20-29 percent over ideal weight increases the risk of dying from coronary heart disease by 32 percent in men and 39 percent in women according to one study. A simple copper supplement may reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease according to an excellent review paper by Leslie Klevay, M.D. from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

Being 20-29 percent over ideal weight increases the risk of dying from coronary heart disease by 32 percent in men and 39 percent in women according to a study done by the American Cancer Society involving 750,000 people determined the risk of dying from individual diseases.

Many people may have heard that being too thin is unhealthy and actually shortens life expectancy; that being a little overweight is healthier and leads to a longer life than being a little underweight. This conclusion is dead wrong! Here’s why.

$8.8 billion according to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.

Since the risk of diseases associated with obesity are associated with belly fat, and not fat on the hips and thighs, taking a waist measurement is a better indication of risk than is body mass index (BMI) according to a new paper from Germany.

Having a body mass index (BMI) of 27.8 or more increases the risk of death from from all causes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer by 40 percent according to a new study from the Netherlands.

SATURATED FAT MAY NOT INCREASE THE RISK OF HEART DISEASE as much previously thought. This comes from a study lasting six years involving 43,757 male health professionals aged 40 to 75.

Men who consume one or more servings of whole grain cereal per day are 17 percent less likely to die off all causes, and 20 percent less likely to die of cardiovascular disease than men who rarely or nenever consume whole grain cereal according to a study from researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, Mass.

THE RISK OF CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE is minimized when subscapular skinfold thickness (measured vertically just below the shoulder blade) is less than 12 mm in men and 15 mm in women.

“Clinicians are likely to encounter morbidity more frequently among their patients with elevated BMI, even those patients in the overweight category [with a body mass index greater than 25],” concludes a recent study by researchers from Tufts University, Harvard School of Public Health, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Nearly one-third of the deaths from coronary heart disease and over three-fourths of the deaths from diabetes are due to excess weight according to a recent paper.