The Deadliest Age to Gain Weight

Gaining weight in early adulthood could shave years off your life as you age.

A new study claims the consequences of putting on pounds in your late teens and 20s—and keeping them there—are more dire than the typical weight gain associated with middle-age spread later in life.

Researchers at Lund University in Sweden discovered that rapid weight gain between the ages of 17 and 29 led to a 70 percent higher risk of premature death compared to people who maintained a stable weight.

Increased weight was not the specific cause of death, the study noted, but the catalyst for health problems long associated with obesity, which affects 1 in 8 people worldwide, according to the World Health Organization. The chief culprits: the early onset of cardiovascular disease, including heart attacks and strokes, as well as Type 2 diabetes, digestive diseases, and certain cancers.

“The most consistent finding is that weight gain at a younger age is linked to a higher risk of premature death later in life, compared with people who gain less,” said epidemiologist Tanja Stocks, one of the Lund researchers.

The study, published in The Lancet, tracked the weight of more than 600,000 people in Sweden from 1963 to 2015. Ranging in age from 17 to 60, each participant’s weight was assessed at least three times over that time span.

Men and women alike gained an average of just under 1 pound a year. Study participants who gained weight at that pace from age 17 to 30, put on a total of just over 14 pounds and had an estimated 17 percent higher risk of premature death compared to those who maintained their weight throughout those years.