![\"Jennifer](\"https:\/\/yfile.news.yorku.ca\/files\/2018\/07\/jennifer-kuk-768x1024.jpg\")
Jennifer Kuk<\/p><\/div>\n
The results of this study could impact how we think about obesity and health, said\u00a0Jennifer Kuk<\/a>, associate professor in the School of Kinesiology and Health Science, who led the research team at York University.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is in contrast with most of the literature and we think this is because most studies have defined metabolic healthy obesity as having up to one metabolic risk factor,\u201d said Kuk.\u00a0\u201cThis is clearly problematic, as hypertension alone increases your mortality risk and past literature would have called these patients with obesity and hypertension 'healthy.' This is likely why most studies have reported that 'healthy' obesity is still related with higher mortality risk.\u201d<\/p>\n Kuk\u2019s study showed that unlike dyslipidemia, hypertension or diabetes alone, which are related with a high mortality risk, this isn\u2019t the case for obesity alone.<\/p>\n The study followed 54,089 men and women from five cohort studies who were categorized as having obesity alone\u00a0or clustered with a metabolic factor; or elevated glucose, blood pressure or lipids alone or clustered with obesity or another metabolic factor. Researchers\u00a0looked at how many people within each group died as compared to those within the normal weight population with no metabolic risk factors.<\/p>\n Current weight management guidelines suggest that anyone with a BMI over 30 kg\/m2<\/sup> should lose weight. This implies that if you have obesity, even without any other risk factors, it makes you unhealthy. Researchers found that one out of 20 individuals with obesity had no other metabolic abnormalities.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re showing that individuals with metabolically healthy obesity are actually not at an elevated mortality rate. We found that a person of normal weight with no other metabolic risk factors is just as likely to die as the person with obesity and no other risk factors,\u201d said Kuk. \u201cThis means that hundreds of thousands of people in North America alone with metabolically healthy obesity will be told to lose weight when it\u2019s questionable how much benefit they\u2019ll actually receive.\u201d<\/p>\n The study, \u201cIndividuals with obesity but no other metabolic risk factors are not at significantly elevated all-cause mortality risk in men and women,\u201d is published in Clinical Obesity<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n Watch Professor Kuk explain the findings in the video below.
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