People who are "fat but fit" still face an increased risk of developing coronary heart disease, British researchers say today.
Even patients with low blood pressure and health levels of glycaemia and cholesterol need to achieve a healthy weight, according to researchers at Imperial College, London, and Cambridge University.
According to the researchers these people face a 28% increased risk of developing heart disease compared to those of healthy weight levels.
The findings, reported in the European Heart Journal, come from an analysis of data from the EPIC study, involving half a million people in ten European countries.
Over a period of 12 years, some 7,637 of the participants developed heart-related illnesses, including fatal myocardial infarction.
Researcher Dr Ioanna Tzoulaki, from Imperial College, said: “I think there is no longer this concept of healthy obese. If anything, our study shows that people with excess weight who might be classed as healthy haven’t yet developed an unhealthy metabolic profile.
"That comes later in the timeline, then they have an event, such as a heart attack.”
Professor Metin Avkiran, associate medical director of the British Heart Foundation, backed the findings.
He said: “This study provides robust evidence that there is no such thing as healthy obesity. It conclusively shows that being obese increases a person’s risk of developing heart disease, even if they are otherwise healthy."
Lassale, C. et al. Separate and combined associations of obesity and metabolic health with coronary heart disease: a pan-European case-cohort analysis. European Heart Journal 15 August 2017; doi: 10.1093/eurheartj/ehx448
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