Obesity Increases Risk for Heart Disease

Obesity contributes to heart disease and diabetes risks despite recent claims of “metabolically healthy obese” classifications, according to a study published in The Journal of Endocrinology and Metabolism. Researchers compared BMI and metabolic risk factors for 6,238 participants as part of the Danish prospective Inter99 study. Study criteria categorized participants with no risk factors as “metabolically healthy” and those with one or more risk factors as “metabolically unhealthy.” Those who were both obese and metabolically healthy increased their risk for heart disease, compared with those who were normal weight. Most participants initially labeled as metabolically healthy developed at least one risk factor after five years. These findings do no support previous conclusions that obese individuals are not at risk for heart disease.

These findings support a previous study published by the American College of Cardiology.