Obese and still fit? Quite likely!

Put on some weight lately? Don't worry as you can be both 'fit and fat'! Overweight people can be be physically healthy as long as they are metabolically fit, finds an intriguing new study.

Experts claim that one can be 'metabolically healthy' obese, meaning he or she does not have any insulin resistance, something perceived to be the characteristic of obese people.

Lead researcher, Dr. Francisco Ortega says, "It is well known that obesity is linked to a large number of chronic disease such as cardiovascular problems and cancer.

"However, there appears to be a sub-set of obese people who seem to be protected from obesity-related metabolic complications.

"They may have greater cardio-respiratory fitness than other obese individuals, but, until now, it was not known the extent to which these metabolically healthy but obese people are at lower risk of diseases or premature death."

A cohort studyr
The study was conducted on 43,265 participants, who were a part of "Aerobics Center Longitudinal Study" (ACLS). Most of them were working professionals with around 25 percent being women.

The subjects underwent measurements of their body fat percentage, waist circumference, height and weight. In addition, their cholesterol, blood pressure and fasting glucose levels were also recorded.

Findingsr
An analysis revealed that around half were metabolically healthy. After considering a slew of factors, 38 percent of obese yet metabolically healthy people were found to have lower risk of death when compared with their 'metabolically unfit' obese counterparts.

The fit ones used to exercise regularly and consequently had comparatively higher fitness levels as compared to the others.

Dr Ortega added, "There are two major findings derived from our study. Firstly, a better cardio-respiratory fitness level should be considered from now on as a characteristic of this subset of metabolically healthy obese people.

"Secondly, once fitness is accounted for, our study shows for the first time that metabolically healthy but obese individuals have similar prognosis as metabolically healthy normal-weight individuals, and a better prognosis than their obese peers with an abnormal metabolic profile."

The study was published in the European Heart journal.