Obesity in America Is Three Times More Deadly Than We Thought

New research from Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health shows that from 1986-2006 obesity accounted for 18 percent of deaths among white and black Americans aged 40 to 85—a far higher amount, the authors say, than past estimates that obesity is responsible for 5 percent of deaths in that demographic. 

The percentage of deaths from obesity on other ethnicities was not examined in the study. 

As for the effect of obesity in more detail: Black women are the worst-affected group, with 27 percent of black women aged 40-85 at risk of dying from obesity or being overweight. In white women, 21 percent are at risk. There are twice as many obese black women as there are white.

For men, 15 percent of white men and 5 percent of black men are at risk of dying from excess weight—though the report says that the comparatively low rate of death among black men is because higher rates of cigarette smoking and socioeconomic conditions somewhat skew the statistics.