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January 31, 2006
NFL players at risk of early death
Being an overweight NFL player puts one at risk of premature death. Heavy NFL players twice as likely to die before 50 Most of the 130 players born since 1955 who have died were among the heaviest athletes in sports history, according to the study. One-fifth died of heart diseases, and 77 were so overweight that doctors would have classified them as obese, the study found. and "These guys live such an extreme lifestyle with their weight that they are going to be prone to hypertension, diabetes and coronary artery disease. There is no question about it," said Dr. Barry Maron, director of the Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Center at the Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation. This article should be sobering to all players, their families and their agents. I doubt that even the most informed player will change their weight in the short run. Afterall, many athletes take steroids knowing the risks to their health. We can only hope that the NFL would develop a program to help ex-players improve their health risks. We should also hope that the Player's Association would demand it!
Robert Centor, M.D.
03:31 PM
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