Obesity can cause chronic health problems and impaired mental fitness and make your life miserable if it doesn’t kill you by old age.

Obese women have an 80 percent higher chance of suffering from multiple health problems by the time they reach the age of 70, according to a new study.

The study results are released at a perfect time since the U. S. population is not just ageing fast but also putting on extra pounds. Since 1976, when the study had begun, the number of obese Americans has gone up by 14.5 percent.

The study analyzed data on 17,065 women participating in the Nurses’ Health Study wherein the volunteers were above 50 years with no major mental or physical conditions.

Twenty years later, as less as 20 percent had a healthy survival and obese women were 79 percent less likely to have healthy survival than the slim ones.

Every kilogram of extra weight reduced the chances of healthy survival by 5 percent as per the study.

Eugenio Lopez, a registered nurse with the Texas A&M Health Science Center Coastal Bend Health Education Center in Corpus Christi says, "We typically see this struggle not only in middle age but even as teenagers. If you struggle as a teenager, you're going to struggle for the rest of your life".