Obese people don’t stay healthy for very long. The claim that some of them are fit despite being overweight is a delusion, according to the results of a study published in the journal Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
At the beginning of 2015, an American study published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation claimed that obesity is not always linked to poor health.
Researchers from University College London (UK) conducted a scientific study that contradicts these findings. They worked with 2,521 men and women between the ages of 39 and 62. For twenty years, they measured their body mass index, cholesterol levels, blood sugar, insulin resistance and blood pressure.
The conclusions of the study reveal that after five years, 32% of obese people have experienced a deterioration in their health. After ten years, 41% of the initial group of obese in good health were no longer considered as such and they were 51% after 20 years. And, only 11% of them managed to lose weight and maintain good health.
“The main hypothesis put forward for healthy obese people is that their state of health remains stable over the long term, which is not the case since their health deteriorates over the long term”, explains Joshua Bell, researcher and author of the study. “Healthy obese adults are also at significantly greater risk of becoming ill than non-obese people,” he recalls.
“Healthy obese people are at a greater risk of developing cardiovascular disease than those who are normal weight and healthy, although this risk is lower than for obese people who are already in poor health”, concludes Joshua Bell .
I’obesity has become a real public health problem. In 2010, the World Health Organization estimated that overweight and obesity caused 3.4 million deaths and reduced life expectancy.
In a report, the WHO indicates that Europeans are getting fatter and fatter: 27% of 13-year-olds and 33% of eleven-year-olds are overweight. And, the number of overweight or obese inhabitants of the planet reached 2.1 billion in 2013 (including 671 million obese).
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