Being overweight as a teenager may increase the risk for liver illness later in life, a new study has found.

Swedish researchers used data on more than 1.2 million young men ages 17 to 19 who were drafted into the military from 1969 to 1996, then linked the data to government health records.

At conscription, 104,137 were overweight, with a body mass index between 25 and 29, and 19,671 were obese (B.M.I. over 30).

The study, published in Gut, found 5,281 cases of severe liver disease and 251 cases of liver cancer over a median follow-up of 29 years.