It didn\u2019t matter whether obese people were free from diabetes, high blood pressure or high cholesterol, a condition sometimes referred to as \u201cmetabolically healthy obesity.\u201d As long as they were obese, they were at modestly higher risk for having a stroke, at nearly 50 percent greater risk of coronary heart disease and had nearly double the risk of developing heart failure than people who were not overweight and in similar metabolic health.<\/p>\n
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\u201cThe bottom line is that metabolically healthy obesity doesn\u2019t exist,\u201d said Dr. Rishi Caleyachetty …\u201cObesity is not a benign condition.\u201d<\/p>\n
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But critics say the analysis, based on the electronic health records of 3.5 million British patients who were followed from 1995 to 2015, leaves a lot out. Doctors\u2019 records don\u2019t typically capture lifestyle habits, so the study fails to account for the wide-ranging effects of diet. They classify weight status by using body mass index, a formula based on height and weight that doesn\u2019t distinguish muscle from fat. Most important, critics say, such analyses don\u2019t take fitness level or physical activity into account.<\/p>\n
Other studies have found a higher rate of heart failure among obese individuals, said Dr. Carl Lavie, the medical director of cardiac rehabilitation and preventive cardiology at the John Ochsner Heart and Vascular Institute in New Orleans. But when it comes to coronary heart disease outcomes, studies that take both weight and physical fitness into account <\/a>have concluded that \u201cfitness is more important than fatness<\/a>,\u201d at least for the moderately obese, he said.<\/p>\n \u201cFor the very large number of people who are overweight or mildly obese, I don\u2019t think it\u2019s doomsday if they can keep themselves out of the low fitness level,\u201d Dr. Lavie said.<\/p>\n ******<\/p>\n \u201cI do think that\u2019s a better message than telling people, \u2018You better not gain weight,\u2019\u201d Dr. Lavie said. \u201cPeople aren\u2019t trying to gain weight. They\u2019re not trying to get to be obese. A better message would be to tell people that if they get themselves to be more physically active, they can improve their prognosis, despite carrying a few extra pounds. That\u2019s a better message, and a more obtainable message.\u201d<\/p>\n