Males who are overweight or obese as teenagers may face an increased risk of developing severe liver problems later in life, a new study has found.

Overweight and obesity are major public health problems worldwide and around one billion people are projected to be obese by 2030 if things continue as they are.

A previous study had linked a high body mass index (BMI) in late adolescence with an increased risk of hospitalisation or death from end-stage liver disease later in life. Swedish researchers decided to look into this further.

They used data from 1.2 million men who had been enlisted for military conscription in Sweden between 1969 and 1996. They also assessed data on liver disease, liver cancer and type 2 diabetes from patient registers.

The study found that men who had been overweight or obese as teenagers had a much higher risk of developing serious liver problems later on.

If they were overweight during adolescence, they were 50% more likely to go on to develop liver disease compared to men of a normal weight. If they were obese, they were more than twice as likely to develop liver disease.

Those who developed type 2 diabetes had an even greater risk. Obese men who developed type 2 diabetes were at least three times more likely to suffer with liver problems when they were older compared to normal-weight men without diabetes.

The results stood even when other factors were taken into account, such as alcohol consumption.

The researchers concluded that if overweight or obese, the risk of developing severe liver problems appears to be present from an early age, and is increased by the development of type 2 diabetes.

"This could have implications for public health decision making, strengthening the need of targeted intervention against overweight and obesity at an early age and specifically highlights the risk of type 2 diabetes as a risk factor for liver disease.

"Interventions to reduce the increasing prevalence of overweight and obesity should be implemented from an early age to reduce the future burden of severe liver disease on individuals and society," the researchers from Karolinska University Hospital said.

Details of these findings are published in the journal, Gut.