Is it better to be fit and fat or thin and unfit? Despite our nation wide obesity epidemic, there is growing evidence that our concerns about obesity as a measure of health may be misguided.
Recently a report in The Archives of Internal Medicine compared weight and cardiovascular risk factors among 5,400 adults. The data suggest that half of overweight people and one-third of obese people are “metabolically healthy”. Surprisingly, this means that despite excess pounds many of these overweight and obese people have healthy levels of good cholesterol, blood pressure, blood glucose and other risk factors for heart disease. At the same time, one out of four “healthy weight people” have at least two cardiovascular risk factors associated with obesity.
What so surprising is the amount of overweight people who are metabolically healthy; despite the fact obese people are predisposed to developing cardiovascular risks and other health problems. This data follows a report published by the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention and The National Cancer Institute showing overweight people have longer life expectancy than normal weight adults.
What causes this confusion is a skewed perception of what overweight really means. We typically evaluate ones body mass by using a BMI index , 18-25 is normal, 25 is considered overweight, 30 is obese. However a person who measures 25 can present themselves as not so different as the person who falls within the normal range.
Researchers at the Cooper Institute have shown that fitness may be the better predictor of health. Several studies have shown that people who are fat but keep up with a treadmill test may have a lower cardiovascular risk than the thin unfit person. The most striking finding was that regardless of BMI, the higher the fitness level the lower the mortality risk.
Is it better to be fit and fat or thin and unfit? Despite our nation wide obesity epidemic, there is growing evidence that our concerns about obesity as a measure of health may be misguided.
Recently a report in The Archives of Internal Medicine compared weight and cardiovascular risk factors among 5,400 adults. The data suggest that half of overweight people and one-third of obese people are “metabolically healthy”. Surprisingly, this means that despite excess pounds many of these overweight and obese people have healthy levels of good cholesterol, blood pressure, blood glucose and other risk factors for heart disease. At the same time, one out of four “healthy weight people” have at least two cardiovascular risk factors associated with obesity.
What so surprising is the amount of overweight people who are metabolically healthy; despite the fact obese people are predisposed to developing cardiovascular risks and other health problems. This data follows a report published by the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention and The National Cancer Institute showing overweight people have longer life expectancy than normal weight adults.
What causes this confusion is a skewed perception of what overweight really means. We typically evaluate ones body mass by using a BMI index , 18-25 is normal, 25 is considered overweight, 30 is obese. However a person who measures 25 can present themselves as not so different as the person who falls within the normal range.
Researchers at the Cooper Institute have shown that fitness may be the better predictor of health. Several studies have shown that people who are fat but keep up with a treadmill test may have a lower cardiovascular risk than the thin unfit person. The most striking finding was that regardless of BMI, the higher the fitness level the lower the mortality risk.