Fat and healthy?

Posted 05/09/2012

From a review of over 43,000 Americans, researchers have concluded that being overweight is not per se an indication of health risks. The key was to be “metabolically fit” meaning no high blood pressure, cholesterol or raised blood sugar levels.  In the research, it was established that a third of the participants were obese but that half of these were still metabolically fit and at no greater health risk than their non obese colleagues. The key was physical fitness as a health marker.

Trefine Maynard, a medical injury solicitor at Ashtons Legal, said: “It is acknowledged that obesity is a clear factor in health risks such as the chance of developing heart disease. However what is now clear is that weight on its own is not the risk, it is the distribution of weight and the underlying fitness of an individual that determines the level of risk. Excess weight around the middle is particularly dangerous as the fat cells here are really active and produce substances causing damage that can result in heart disease. It seems to be ever more clear that fitness is the key to health. In the year of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, and the enthusiasm for sport that these have generated, I hope that the Government will look seriously and positively at promoting sport throughout society, but especially in the young”.