Losing weight ‘decreases risk of death in car crashes’

Researchers from the University of Buffalo found that a moderately obese driver involved in a severe motor vehicle crash is 21 per cent more likely to die than a person who is of a normal weight.

A morbidly obese person faces a 56 per cent increased risk of not surviving, the study shows.

The first author of the study was Dr Dietrich Jehle, professor of emergency medicine at the University at Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences and at Erie County Medical Center in the US.

“We … recommend that manufacturers design and test vehicle interiors with obese dummies, which currently are not available,” he said.

The study has been posted online ahead of its publication in the American Journal of Emergency Medicine.

Earlier this week, researchers from the Alimentary Pharmabiotic Centre at University College Cork and Teagasc – the Irish Agriculture and Food Development Authority – suggested that special probiotics could help obese people to lose weight and keep it off.

Does this new study motivate you to lose weight?