Some obese people are metabolically healthy and fit, with no greater risk of developing or dying from cardiovascular disease or cancer than normal weight people, new study reveals.
The findings show there is a subset of obese people who are metabolically healthy they don’t suffer from conditions such as insulin resistance, diabetes and high cholesterol or blood pressure and who have a higher level of fitness, as measured by how well the heart and lungs perform, than other obese people.
Being obese does not seem to have a detrimental effect on their health, and doctors should bear this in mind when considering what, if any, interventions are required, the researchers said.
«It is well known that obesity is linked to a large number of chronic disease such as cardiovascular problems and cancer. However, there appears to be a sub-set of obese people who seem to be protected from obesity-related metabolic complications,» said the first author of the study, Dr Francisco Ortega (PhD).
«They may have greater cardio-respiratory fitness than other obese individuals, but, until now, it was not known the extent to which these metabolically healthy but obese people are at lower risk of diseases or premature death,» Ortega stated.
Dr Ortega is currently a research associate affiliated to the Department of Physical Activity and Sport, University of Granada (Spain), and at the Department of Biosciences and Nutrition, Karolinska Institutet (Stockholm, Sweden); but the project and investigation took place at the University of South Carolina (Columbia, USA) under the direction of Professor Steven Blair, who is responsible for the long-running «Aerobics Center Longitudinal Study» (ACLS) which provided the 43,265 participants for this current analysis.
