- Having a high body mass index (BMI) probably won't lead to an early death if you are otherwise healthy. For younger adults, there was no increase in risk for any BMI between 22.5 & 27.4. But overall, for adults with a BMI of 30 or over, there was a 21% to 108% increased death risk. N=554,332 https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0287218 113 comments science