Dreading your diet? Don't worry... plump people live LONGER than their skinnier counterparts (but only if they're a few pounds overweight)
- Review of 100 studies by US Government researchers found people of a normal weight were more likely to die early than those who were slightly overweight
- But being any more than slightly obese makes you third more likely to die young
- Plump people may live longer as they have more reserves if they lose weight due to ill health in old age
People who are overweight may actually outlive their thinner counterparts, a landmark study has suggested.
Men and women who are slightly plump - essentially carrying a few extra pounds - have longer lives than those of a normal weight, according to a study of more than three million people.
The research flies in the face of conventional thinking that being a normal weight is a barometer for good health.
For the latest study, US government researchers read 91 previous research papers on the topic from around the world – involving millions of men and women.
They looked at the subjects’ body mass index at the start of the research and how likely they were to have died by the end of it.
Body mass index, or BMI, is a mathematical formula relating height to weight.
People are classified as being of normal weight if they have a BMI of between 18.5 and 24.9 and overweight if their reading is between 25 and 29.9.