Research

Mixed

Adolescent adiposity (BMI ≥ 25 kg/m² at age 18) is independently associated with a significantly increased risk of premature death in adulthood, even after adjusting for adult BMI and lifestyle factors.

Maintaining a healthy weight during adolescence is critical for long-term survival. Even if you gain weight as an adult, being overweight as a teenager adds an independent layer of mortality risk that isn't fully erased by later weight management. Focus on healthy habits early in life.

GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
Associations between BMI at age 18 years and death could only partly be explained by adult BMI measured in 1989. Moderately higher adiposity at age 18 years is associated with increased premature death in younger and middle-aged U.S. women.
Rob M. van Dam et al. · Annals of Internal Medicine · 2006

Why this rating

Large prospective cohort (N=102,400), long follow-up (12 years), adjusted for multiple confounders, but observational design limits causal inference.

Source

The Relationship between Overweight in Adolescence and Premature Death in Women

Rob M. van Dam et al. · Annals of Internal Medicine · 2006

DOI 10.7326/0003-4819-145-2-200607180-00006

cohort · n=102400Cited 188×
Read the paper
DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

This is one finding among thousands. Every one is graded and traced to its source, so you can see what the evidence actually supports. Browse the research →