Researchers also investigated how smoking influenced this relationship and how excess weight affected death risk from specific causes.

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According to the OECD, for every 15 kilograms of excess weight, the risk of death increases by about 30%.

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In a country topping 300 million in population and plagued annually by in excess of 13, 000 murders, 78 offenders were added to the nation's death rows last year, down 75% from the 326 sentenced to die in 1995.

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That spike in the death rate at age 27 can thus be seen as a marker of how long unconstrained excess takes to kill.

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