It is no secret that Americans have an obesity problem. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that more than one third of U.S. adults — or 36.5 percent of us — are classified as obese.

Now a new study has found that obesity is responsible for shortening the lifespan of humans more than smoking.

A team of researchers from Cleveland Clinic and New York University School of Medicine found that obesity led to “as much as 47 percent more life-years lost than tobacco,” noted Science Daily — “and tobacco caused similar life-years lost as high blood pressure.”

Diet, lifestyle modifications, and exercise can add years to our lives.

The results were presented at the 2017 Society of General Internal Medicine Annual Meeting, which met this past weekend in Washington, D.C. The team from Cleveland Clinic reported that the greatest number of preventable years of life lost were due to — in order from greatest to least — obesity, diabetes, tobacco use, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol.

These findings are significant for the medical community: Three of the top five causes of death are preventable and can be treated. That is why education, information, and properly trained health care providers can be such a powerful tool in helping us live longer.

In addition to helping people understand treatment options, it’s equally important to educate patients about how to prevent these conditions from becoming a medical issue in the first place. After all, research has found that diet, lifestyle modifications, and exercise can add years to our lives.

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The researchers also hope these findings shed some positive light on the hard work of the people laboring away in the public health sector. These people have spent years leading the charge on smoking cessation — which consequently reduced the percentages of people dying from smoking. Now, it appears that a similar drive is needed to cut obesity rates.

“These preliminary results continue to highlight the importance of weight loss, diabetes management, and healthy eating in the U.S. population,” said Glen Taksler, Ph.D., internal medicine researcher from Cleveland Clinic and lead author of the study, in a statement.

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Fortunately, the medical community is taking these statistics seriously and recognizing that fitness, healthy eating. and lifestyle changes play a major part in keeping people alive. One example of the work already being done to increase patients’ awareness of how lifestyle changes reduce obesity can be seen in the joint effort of the American Medical Association and The American College of Sports Medicine, with their Exercise in Medicine (EIM) initiative.

The initiative is focused on encouraging primary care physicians and other health care providers to include physical activity when designing treatment plans and partnering with experts in the exercise and fitness industry for patient referral. They believe that physical activity is integral to prevent and treat disease — and that these things should be regularly assessed and “treated” as part of all health care.

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Dr. Taksler and colleagues are continuing to do research in this area, and to analyze and refine results. This should continue to raise awareness about combining medical treatment options with a prescription for a healthier lifestyle in the fight against obesity.

Sara Hermanson is a freelance writer in Washington State whose focus is health, wellness, fitness and parenting.