Research
Energy balance
Among healthy, never-smoking white adults, a BMI of 20.0 to 24.9 is associated with the lowest all-cause mortality, while both overweight (BMI 25.0-29.9) and obesity (BMI ≥30.0) are associated with significantly increased mortality risk.
For non-smoking adults without major chronic diseases, maintaining a BMI between 20.0 and 24.9 is associated with the lowest risk of death. Being overweight or obese increases this risk, with the risk rising significantly as BMI increases beyond 30.
StrongSupportsVERY_HIGH confidence
In white adults, overweight and obesity (and possibly underweight) are associated with increased all-cause mortality. All-cause mortality is generally lowest with a BMI of 20.0 to 24.9.
Why this rating
Large-scale pooled analysis of 1.46 million adults with rigorous exclusion of confounders (smoking, preexisting disease).
Source
Body-Mass Index and Mortality among 1.46 Million White Adults
Amy Berrington de González et al. · New England Journal of Medicine · 2010
DOI 10.1056/nejmoa1000367
cohort · n=1460000Cited 2,313×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
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