Obese people, despite their health problems, would take better care of their bodies than those with a “normal” weight. This is called the paradox of obesity.
-1606823841.jpg "What is the obesity paradox?")
- Obese people would be better treated and resist disease than thinner people, this is the paradox of obesity.
- This theory, supported by part of the scientific community, thinks that obesity can help protect against certain diseases.
Obesity does not necessarily mean poor health. This is the observation made by researchers from the College of Medicine of Georgia (United States). In their study published on November 24, 2020 in the Journal of Applied Laboratory Medicinethe team details the paradox of obesity, which holds that an obese person with multiple diseases ultimately takes better care of their health than someone with a “normal” body mass index (BMI).
An unexplained and tenacious hypothesis
In most cases, the weight gain that leads to obesity is accompanied by multiple diseases such as diabetes and high blood pressure. But those who are obese may actually be better at managing their health issues than those with a healthy BMI. So when they are admitted to intensive care for reasons such as heart attack or stroke, it would be much better for them.
“Obese people also suffer from more high blood pressure, more diabetes, more strokes like strokes and heart attacks, but when they have these problems they have tend to fare better than thin peopleconfirms Gurmukh Singh, vice president of the department of pathology of the college of medicine of Georgia and author of the study.
In reality, it is difficult to understand this paradox. According to certain theories, with equal pathology, the excess of adipose tissue of obese people would help them better overcome a serious illness than “leaner” people, who will lose more weight with a greater effect on their physical condition.
No significant difference
To find out for sure, the researchers compared the complete metabolic profile of 522 adult outpatients at Georgia Hospital Medical Center. People with chronic or acute illnesses were not included in the one-month testing period, and investigators looked at four BMI categories. Patients were divided into those with a BMI between 18.5 and 25, considered normal weight, between 25.1 and 30, considered overweight, between 30.1 and 35, and those over 35, two categories considered as obese.
According to them, overweight or obese people should have had higher or abnormal test results than others. However, with the exception of elevated triglycerides and lower high-density lipoproteins in obese and morbid patients, the results were not significantly different from those of normal-weight patients. The mystery therefore remains whole about this famous paradox which would allow obese people to be, surprisingly, in better health than others.
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