Can we have a tendency to be each fat and healthy?

Imagine this situation. you're employed out some of times every week, you walk over you're taking the automobile and you play the odd game of squash or lawn tennis.

And you're feeling nice - spirited, centered and packed with vim.

Despite that, your weight remains mulishly one, 2 or maybe 3 stone over you need it to be. Your BMI (Body Mass Index) is within the 'overweight' class and doctors say you wish to melt off. they are saying your weight will increase your possibilities of obtaining a variety of nasties, from polygenic disorder and heart condition to numerous cancers.

If that sounds alittle such as you, you are by no means alone. many men - particularly within the eighteen - forty cohort - exercise pretty often however still realize themselves within the 'unhealthy' zone after they stand on the scales.

Fat and healthy?

And for that group of men, a new study, published this week, is good news indeed. Because what the research seems to indicate is that your doctor - and popular opinion - may have got it wrong. You can be both fat and as healthy as a slimmer counterpart.The study, by the University of South Carolina, looked at data from 43,000 people and found that, on its own, being overweight didn't add to your health risks. It found that obese people had the same risk of developing or dying from cardiovascular disease or cancer as people of ideal weight, provided they were 'metabolically fit'.

What is metabolic health?

And put simply, what they mean by 'metabolically' fit is that under the bonnet all is well, even if the bodywork needs a bit of loving attention.

So you're metabolically fit if you have normal cholesterol, blood sugar and blood pressure ratings. If any of these are raised, you start sliding into the metabolically unfit category.

The problem for obese people is that extra weight makes them more likely to have raised cholesterol, blood sugar and blood pressure. The British Heart Foundation says that obesity is an "undeniable risk factor" for developing coronary heart disease, because it tends to have an adverse effect on all three.

But the new research suggests one way in which overweight and obese people can overcome this added risk. Quite simply, they can exercise.

What does exercise do?

In a nutshell, the research found that a subset of obese people didn't suffer from raised blood pressure, blood sugar or cholesterol, and they were the ones that exercised. The study suggests that overweight people who want to limit their chances of contracting a range of diseases should concentrate more on getting fit, and less on getting thin.

"This research highlights once again the important role of physical fitness as a health marker," says lead researcher Dr Francisco Ortega.

And it's not the only research that leads to this conclusion. Exercise scientist Professor Stephen Blair, also of the University of South Carolina, is one of the world's leading experts on weight and health. He agrees that overweight people are unhealthier than people of normal weight, if they're unfit.

If they're fit, he says, "the harmful effect of fat just disappears."

Not everyone agrees

It's fair to say that the latest research swings the argument towards the 'fat and fit' conclusion. You can be overweight and, as long as you exercise enough, reasonably healthy.

But it should be pointed out that other research leans in the other direction.

For example, a study on men in the Swedish city of Uppsala found that overweight men were at higher risk of heart disease than men of healthy weight, and that was despite other factors. Exercise might lower the risk for overweight people, but it was still higher than the risk for people of normal weight.

"Some researchers have suggested that a heavy person without other risk factors didn't need to lose weight," said lead Swedish researcher Dr Johan Arnlov. "Our data does not support this notion."

 Can you very be fat and fit?

So it's not possible to draw a definitive conclusion on the 'fat and fit' discussion - nevertheless. however the most recent study will increase a growing body of proof suggesting that, if you are carrying many pounds - or many stone - too several, you must get off the scales and into the park.

The study proves that it's a minimum of attainable to be fat and 'metabolically' match, thus no matter your weight, it appears that taking exercise is one among the surest ways that to administer your health a lift.