Can You Be Obese and Healthy? Apparently, Yes.
The study, published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, found that fewer than 10 percent of healthy obese people in their 50s and 60s without risk factors for heart disease went on to develop heart failure over six years.
By contrast, 16 percent of their slimmer peers, also without the suite of risk factors known as metabolic syndrome, ended up with the debilitating condition.
Reuters story here. Study here [gated, but with abstract].
You can be relatively fit and have a layer of fat but still be healthy. On the other hand, you can be slim and unhealthy. How active you are and fitness regimen makes a huge difference.
I can’t decide whether I like this post or not.
I’m not sure I agree with the study. Wouldn’t obese people in their 50’s and 60’s ALREADY have been selected for their above-average health? What percentage of obese people that age are actually free of disease? Compare that to the percent of people that age who are slim.
Maybe I’m reading the study wrong, but I cry foul.
Dr. Steve Blair has been spreading this message for a long time. He calls it “Fat and Fit.”
NFL Offensive Linemen are evidence of the fact that people can be obese and healthy. And from what I’ve read, obesity is partly the result of evolution over millennia – it’s our body’s way of responding to famine.