From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I'm Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat. Being obese is bad for your health, and being extremely obese is worse. A look at data on more than 90,000 women documents the risk. Kathleen McTigue of the University of Pittsburgh reported her findings in the Journal of the American Medical Association: "Before, we knew that extreme obesity was increasing, but we didn't understand what the health implications were for that. Now we understand that extremely obese women are more likely to die than women with less degrees of obesity." (11 seconds) The study, which was supported by the National Institutes of Health, found that new cases of heart disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes also increased with extra weight. Researchers say scientists hadn't known much about the risks of extreme obesity before, because it was fairly uncommon. These days, though, it's becoming a lot more common. Learn more at www.hhs.gov. HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I'm Ira Dreyfuss. | 
