Healthy obesity

Healthy obesity does not exist
New research published online in the Annals of Internal Medicine suggests that individuals cannot be simultaneously overweight and physically fit.
As BMI rose, so did blood pressure, waist circumference and insulin resistance. As BMI increased, levels of HDL cholesterol, thought to protect against heart attack and stroke, decreased.
While participants who were either overweight or obese “may not yet have reached the points that define metabolic illness, they appeared to be on that road as their weight” increased.
Obesity in adulthood is associated with a striking reduction in life expectancy for both men and women. Among 3457 subjects in the Framingham Study, done in the United States, those who were obese (Body Mass Index or BMI ?30 kg/m2 at age 40 years lived 6 to 7 years less than those who were not (BMI ?24.9 kg/m2). Those who were overweight (BMI 25 to 29.9 km/m2) at age 40 years lived about 3 years less, and those who were both obese and smoked lived 13 to 14 years less than normal–weight nonsmokers. The steady rise in life expectancy during the past two centuries may come to an end because of the increasing prevalence of obesity. Being overweight during adolescence also increase the risk of premature death as an adult. The analysis of Nurses’ Health Study has shown the risk of premature death increases with higher BMIs at age 18 years. For a BMI at age 18 of 18.5 to 21.9, 22 to 24.9, 25 to 29.9, and ?30 kg/m2, the hazard ratio for premature death were 0.98, 1.18, 1.66, and 2.79, respectively.