Being ‘fat but fit’ typically leads to worse heart health than being ‘normal’ weight and getting no exercise, a study has warned.
Experts from Spain analysed health data on more than 520,000 adults — and found that exercise does help reduce the risk of developing hypertension and diabetes.
However, they concluded, being overweight leads to a significantly higher risk of having both a heart attack or a stroke.
In fact, the team added, those who were active and obese were around twice as likely to have high cholesterol than inactive, ‘normal’ weight people.
Such people were also found to be four times more likely to have diabetes — and five times more likely to suffer from high blood pressure.
Based on their findings, the researchers have said that the notion that staying active is enough to counteract the effects of obesity is incorrect.
Policy makers who promote sport over weight loss, they added, have been employing the wrong approach.
Being ‘fat but fit’ typically leads to worse heart health than being ‘normal’ weight and getting no exercise, a study has warned
‘One cannot be fat but healthy,’ said paper author and exercise physiologist Alejandro Lucia of the European University in Madrid.
‘This was the first nationwide analysis to show that being regularly active is not likely to eliminate the detrimental health effects of excess body fat.’
‘Our findings refute the notion that a physically active lifestyle can completely negate the deleterious effects of overweight and obesity.’
The research team said that they want to dispel the myth that being ‘fat but fit’ might be associated with having a similar heart health to being ‘thin but unfit’.
‘There is some evidence that fitness might mitigate the negative effects of excess body weight on heart health,’ noted Dr Lucia.
In their study, Dr Lucia and colleagues analysed a dataset of health information on 527,662 working adults — of average age 42 — who were insured by a large occupational risk prevention company in Spain. A third were women.
The team divided the subjects into three weight groups — ‘normal’ (42 per cent of the individuals), ‘overweight’ (41 per cent) and ‘obese’ (18 per cent).
In addition, each adult was assigned an activity level based on World Health Organisation guidelines — which recommend either 150 minutes or walking per week or at least 75 minutes of more vigorous exercise, like jogging.
The team found that — while exercise undeniable had positive health effects — being overweight or obese still came with large health risks.
‘More activity is better, so walking 30 minutes per day is better than walking 15 minutes a day,’ Dr Lucia said.
‘But exercise does not seem to compensate for the negative effects of excess weight. This finding was also observed overall in both men and women when they were analysed separately.’
‘Fighting obesity and inactivity is equally important; it should be a joint battle. Weight loss should remain a primary target for health policies together with promoting active lifestyles.’
The full findings of the study were published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology.
