One in every 13 deaths in the European Union can be attributed to overweight and obesity, according to Spanish researchers reporting in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

The researchers from the Universidad Autonoma de Madrid reported that a minimum of 279,000 annual deaths could be attributed to excess weight.

The researchers attributed about 175,000 of these deaths to obesity -- defined as a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or more -- and the remainder to overweight.

They said that among European countries, weight-related fatalities were the highest in the United Kingdom, accounting for 8.7 percent of all deaths, and lowest in France accounting for 5.8 percent of all deaths.

The researchers calculated the proportion of total deaths caused by being obese or overweight using data from two U.S. cancer prevention studies that followed 1.2 million men and women for 12 to 14 years.

"Mortality attributable to excess weight is a major public health problem in the European Union," they concluded. "At least one in 13 annual deaths in the EU are likely to be related to excess weight."

Other sources: European Journal of Clinical Nutrition