Here's some bad news for fat folks: Overweight people are more likely to die of swine flu, says a new US study.

According to unpublished figures, which were reported at a recent meeting of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia, 99 people who died in the early stages of the pandemic in the US, 45 per cent were obese.

Up till now, most of the individuals who have died from H1N1 swine flu have had an underlying health problem which weakened their ability to fend off the virus, reports New Scientist.

Among the conditions recognised as increasing the risk from flu are hypertension, diabetes, chronic lung obstruction and coronary disease. Now it may be time to add obesity to the list.

The figures surprised most flu researchers. "In 40 years of studying flu, I have never heard anything about obesity," says virologist John Oxford of Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of London.