Being a little chunky ain't so bad, after all

Being overweight doesn't destine people to an early death, a study has found.

U.S. researchers who analyzed 2.3 million adult deaths found the overweight are not at increased risk of dying from cardiovascular disease or cancer -- including obesity-related cancers such as tumours of the breast, colon or pancreas.

And, carrying 20 to 25 extra pounds appears to lower the risk of dying prematurely from virtually all other causes compared to normal weight people.

Carrying 20 to 25 extra pounds lowers the risk of dying prematurely, a study has found.

Carrying 20 to 25 extra pounds lowers the risk of dying prematurely, a study has found.

STR, AFP, Getty Images

Email to a friendEmail to a friendPrinter friendlyPrinter friendly

Font:

* *

* *

* *

* *

AddThis Social Bookmark Button

This varied group appears to include respiratory diseases such as bronchitis and emphysema, pneumonia, tuberculosis and other infectious diseases, blood poisoning, liver disease, falls, suicide, Alzheimer and Parkinson, though scientists haven't analyzed each individual disease. The exceptions were kidney disease and diabetes, two of the fastest-growing diseases in Canada.

The net result? Overweight "was associated with significantly decreased all-cause mortality overall," scientists from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention write in this week's Journal of the American Medical Association.

The modestly overweight -- but not truly obese -- may be better able to recover from infections or medical procedures, and more likely to survive certain diseases due to the "greater nutritional reserves or higher lean body mass" associated with higher weights, the researchers write.

Last week, the World Cancer Research Fund said one of the single most important things people can do to avoid cancer is to stay as thin as possible within the "healthy" weight range.

A study released yesterday -- this one involving 1.2 million British women aged 50 to 64 -- found that while obesity causes an estimated four per cent of all cancers in post-menopausal women, just one per cent of cancers were attributed to being overweight, though the risk was higher for some cancers than others, including endometrial and esophageal cancer.

But a Canadian expert on weight and health says what matters more than the total amount of excess fat is where that fat is located. The study is based on the body mass index, a measure of weight to height. "We know that many of the health problems related to obesity are not reflected in the body mass index -- they're related to abdominal obesity," says Dr. Arya Sharma, scientific director of the Canadian Obesity Network.

But overweight is a loose definition, Sharma says. "If you're eating a healthy diet and you're physically active and you have no problems related to that excess weight, well then don't worry about it."