Obesity may not always spell heart danger--study

For once, overweight people can take heart from the findings of a new study that suggests extra weight does not condemn them to heart disease or diabetes.

The Dutch researchers aver that for people who are obese but do not possess the metabolic factors such as high blood pressure and high cholesterol, being overweight does not enhance the cardiovascular risk in them.

However, the number of such people is only a small percentage of the obese population, the study established.

Weight, per se, does not matter
The bottom line, as put by lead researcher Dr. Andre van Beek, from the University Medical Center in Groningen is, “It's the metabolic risk profile that counts, and not the weight itself.”

“Some obese persons have a normal cardiovascular risk profile, and they have no increased risk for heart and blood vessel disease [because of their weight],” added Beek.

Details of the study
For the purpose of the study, the researchers examined 1,325 obese individuals from amongst the 8,356 subjects who participated in the Dutch Prevention of Renal and Vascular Endstage Disease, or PREVEND, study.

These participants were aged between 28 and 75 years. Of these, 90 obese subjects were metabolically healthy and none of them were taking cholesterol-lowering drugs. They had no history of heart disease, stroke, diabetes, or high blood pressure.

The study found that, over seven and half years, only one individual who was metabolically healthy contracted a cardiovascular disease.

Beek noted that obese with normal metabolism “represent only a small subset of the total obese population.” He however cautioned that “they may still suffer from other obesity-associated diseases like muscle and joint complaints.”

The critique
The short follow up period is the caveat in this study.

Dr. Gregg C. Fonarow, director of the Ahmanson-UCLA Cardiomyopathy Center at the University of California, Los Angeles, opines that the findings should not be accepted at face value.

“While this study did not find increased risk associated with obesity if no metabolic abnormalities were present, it is important to note that other studies with longer-term follow-up have shown there is an increased risk of cardiovascular events in these individuals,” said Fonarow.

“The balance of evidence suggests that, over the long-term, obesity imparts higher cardiovascular risk, even if metabolic abnormalities are not present at baseline,” he said.

The findings of the study are to be presented at the Endocrine Society's annual meeting in San Diego Saturday.