Shedding JUST 5% of weight in your fifties can make your heart as healthy as never gaining it, study finds

University College London researchers tracked more than 6,000 Britons, all born in a single week in 1958. Overweight people who slimmed down by their early-to-mid 50s matched lifelong healthy-weight peers by the age of 62. Both groups showed similar cholesterol, blood pressure and inflammation readings. Lead author Dr Charis Bridger Staatz says it is 'never too late' to turn your health around.

Scientists logged each person's BMI from their 20s and their heaviest weight by 42.

Even modest weight loss may reduce the chances of stroke and heart disease.

Bridger Staatz says obesity drives should target people in their 50s, not just children.