Even when a person is "metabolically healthy," being obese (having a BMI over 30) raises the risk of cardiovascular disease and premature death. It just takes a study that tracks subjects for 10 years or more to pick it up, said research in the Annals of Internal Medicine. The meta-analysis (a study that aggregates the findings of many studies) appears to dash hopes that for some, obesity can be a healthy state. In recent years, research has suggested that the illnesses long linked to obesity — cardiovascular disease, Type 2 diabetes and certain cancers — might stem not from obesity but from metabolic dysfunction. But the new study found that although overweight and obese subjects may not yet have reached the points that define metabolic illness, they appeared to be on that road as their weight rose.
Los Angeles Times
