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The risk of an early death if you're overweight may be overstated, according to a recent US study which found body weight isn't a very important risk factor. Almost every day in the media there'll be somebody panicking about the obesity epidemic and the end of life as we know it if only you'd push aside the layers of fat to see. And when you challenge the panic merchants and ask 'where is the crisis – where are the dead bodies?' They say 'you wait'. And it's true that as we get fatter there are more people at the severely obese end of the scale and there are teenagers developing adult onset diabetes. A recent paper from the United States though is a bit of a cold shower for the obesity industry. They estimated the numbers of premature deaths linked to weight in the year 2000. The findings were that underweight and seriously obese people have an increased chance of dying compared to normal weight people, but being overweight, if anything, was associated with a slightly lower chance of dying for your age. In addition the risk of early death from being obese seems to have declined over the years perhaps from better coronary prevention and treatment. One of the messages is that body weight isn't a very important risk factor. Fitness, smoking and saturated fat in your diet count more. 
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