Could you be possibly obese and healthy at the same time?

Obesity kills and causes ill health.

Eating yourself to the grave is akin to committing suicide. Going by the World Health Organisation's definition, there is nothing celebratory about obesity. The term 'obesity' evokes negative connotation as soon as it is pronounced. But it now appears that we could be allowed to say 'obesity' and 'healthy' in the same sentence.

Findings of study published in the journal BMC Public Health show that there are 'fat and healthy' people.

Researchers from Hospital del Mar, Cualtis and Eli Lilly, Spain, gathered data on 451,432 workers. The team discovered a group that achieved minimum qualifications to be fat and at the same time healthy.

"They are likely to be women and tend to be younger," they concluded in a Report.

According to the team of researchers, those who were fat and healthy showed no worrying symptoms in metabolism that might predict future diseases, such as type 2 diabetes, heart problems and stroke. Their vital signs reflected well and positively.

This group is also less likely to suffer disease than those who are not obese but are considered metabolically unhealthy, the researchers said.

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Essentially, according to the team's conclusion, it is the level of daily exercise that determined 'health' and not exactly the size of the body.

According to obesity specialist in Kenya, Dr Lyudmilla Shchukina, the old method of using BMI to diagnose obesity is no longer reliable. This is because two individuals could rank similar on BMI but one of them may have higher muscle tissue while the other more fat tissue in their bodies.

"There are better methods to measure obesity – like waist circumference," she says. "Someone may rank as 'normal' on the BMI scale but still pass as unhealthy metabolically."

Therefore, the level of activity is important in ensuring health. According to Shchukina, one should have at least 30 minutes of daily exercise.

The researchers also found that those who weighed normal or underweight but unhealthy lead sedentary lifestyles than those who were fat and healthy.

Nearly all, at 99.5 per cent of underweight individuals, 97.8 per cent of normal weight individuals, 87.1 per cent of those who were overweight and 55.1 per cent of those considered obese, were found to be healthy.

Conclusion: it is possible to be fat but 'metabolically healthy'. However, note that obese individuals don't have a very encouraging show of health compared to the other groups.

Whatever your weight though keep exercising that body.

IN OTHER HEALTH NEWS

Bad lifestyle choices increase lifestyle diseases among the young

Lifestyle diseases have in the past been associated with older age groups, but recent evidence shows that 16 million of all deaths attributed to non-communicable diseases occur before the age of 70.

Addressing a meeting organized by health insurance provider Resolution Health, Dr. Sushant Srivastava, a Cardio-Vascular Surgeon from India, noted that there is a rise in the incidence of non-communicable (NCDs) diseases notably cardiovascular disease and Diabetes.

"This is attributed to the rapid urbanization, sedentary lifestyles, unhealthy eating habits and lack of physical activity," he said.

Speaking at the same event, Beatrice Wangari, a clinical nutritionist, admonished that people avoid processed foods in favour of organic options which are healthy: yams, sweet potatoes, boiled maize, green vegetables, arrow roots and more.