Study Asserts Possibility of Being Obese and Healthy

US Pharm. 2011;36(9):10.

Toronto, ON — A study of 6,000 obese Americans over a 16-year period compared their mortality risk with that of thin individuals and concluded that otherwise healthy obese people live as long as their lean counterparts and are less likely to die of cardiovascular diseases. Obese subjects with no or mild physical, psychological, or physiological impairments had a higher body weight in young adulthood, were happier with their body weight, and had tried less often to lose weight, but they were more likely to consume a healthy diet and to be physically active. The Edmonton Obesity Staging System, a newly developed grading tool that has been found to be more accurate than body mass index for identifying who should lose weight, was used in the study.