THERE is no such thing as being fat and healthy, scientists warn.
They have strongly refuted suggestions that a person's physical fitness is more important than their weight.
The
"fat and fit" myth has been punctured by research involving 61,000
people and covering a period from the 1950s to the present day.
The
theory was that good metabolic fitness, that is, having normal blood
pressure and being able to process sugar easily, would protect people
from the consequences of obesity, such as heart disease and diabetes.
However,
the new research, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, found
that even though high blood pressure, poor blood sugar control and high
blood fats are important indicators of disease, the excess weight itself
remains critical.
Seriously overweight people who displayed none of these warning
signs were nonetheless found to die younger than people at a normal
weight.
The scientists, from the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research
Institute at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto, conducted a review of
eight studies published from 1950 onwards to find out whether these
metabolic indicators were linked to premature death and heart disease in
normal-weight, overweight and obese people.
They classified the
participants by Body Mass Index (BMI), which gives weight guidelines
based on height, and measured lipid profile (blood fats), glucose
tolerance (sugar), blood pressure, and waist circumference, as well as
other metabolic features.
Bad results in these tests have been dubbed 'the metabolic syndrome' and increase the risk of a range of diseases.
news.com.
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