Carrying extra fat around the middle – even among people of average weight – poses serious health problems, according to a report.

Although they may be called ‘love handles’ there is not much to love about the extra girth health-wise, according to a New England Journal of Medicine study.

Researchers studying 360,000 people from European countries found waist size a "powerful indicator" of risk of an early death.

Results came from a ten-year study of thousands of people who were aged mostly 51 years when the investigation started.

They reported an extra 2ins around the middle raised the chance of dying young by between 13 per cent and 17 per cent.

Findings concerning extremes showed men with waists more than 47ins in size had double the risk of dying compared with those with a girth of under 31.5ins.

Women with waists more than 39ins shared a similar statistic over those with middles under 25.5ins.

The National Institutes of Health reports women with waists of more than 35ins and men with middles of more than 40ins may have a higher risk of disease.