Heart Disease and Diabetes Risk

"Obesity in middle age -- even without established cardiovascular disease risk factors such as high blood pressure or high cholesterol levels -- greatly increases risk of hospitalization for and death from heart disease and diabetes in older age, according to a study in the Jan. 11 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Of the 17,640 participants who had survived to age 65 and older, those who were overweight, and particularly those who were obese earlier in life, had significantly higher risks of hospitalizations for and death from heart disease and diabetes in older age compared with persons of normal weight with similar other cardiovascular risk factors at the beginning of the study.
Elevated risk was present for individuals both with and without other major cardiovascular risk factors, such as smoking in young adulthood and middle age."

-ScienceDaily, January 12, 2006 (information culled from a long-term study at Northwestern University)