Food For Thought

Study: Obesity to cut 2 to 5 years off live span

CHICAGO - New and disputed research adds a twist to the Social Security dilemma, suggesting that a nation gorging itself on bacon double-cheeseburgers will one day dramatically shorten the average U.S. life span.

Obesity - especially its alarming rise among children - is the culprit, fueling a startling reversal in life expectancy, which likely will drop by two to five years or more within 50 years, according to a report in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine.