A new study in the September issue of Diabetes Care has found that obese people who are metabolically healthy can still benefit from weight loss. This goes completely against an earlier study that showed that if people who are obese, but yet healthy, lose weight it may be negative thing. Each obese person is affected by excess weight differently. A person who is considered obese has a BMI of 30 or higher, which takes into account your height and weight. What it doesn't take into account is your body ratio of muscle to fat. Beginning in the 1960's some researchers were finnding that some obese individuals were not inflicted with weight-releated issues because they had normal cholesterol, blood pressure, and insulin levels. They were metabolically healthy. In 2001 there was a study that found that out of 43 obese women, 17 of them were metabolically healthy. The key difference between the two groups was that the 17 "healthy" women had less than half of the deep belly fat that the metabolically unhealthy women had. This deep belly fat is considered really bad because it is much more likely to spew fat into the bloodstream. The healthy obese women in this study also were found to be more active than those who were considered unhealthy. Now the big question that researchers are wondering is if these obese, but metabolically healthy individuals should still try and lose weight. A 2008 study said no. It found that out of 20 metabolically healthy women and 24 metabolically unhealthy women, there was a 13% decrease of insulin sensativity in the "healthy" women after dieting for 6 months. This is not a good thing because lower amounts of insulin sensativity can lead to heart disease and type 2 diabetes. However, a more recent study that included other weight loss methods, such as exercise, in obese men and women both metabolically healthy and unhealthy showed that the metabolically healthy people's insulin sensativity levels increased by 18.5%, while the metabolically unhealthy individual's increased even more. One of the researchers in this study, named Janiszewski, says this, "You certainly won't get any worse with diet and exercise, and you have the likelihood of improving some metabolic risk factors." The researcher of the earlier 2008 study says that more research is definitely needed and that the two studies are hard to compare because they used different measurements and methods. Obesity is a major public health issue and even the obese people who are metabolically healthy are still at risk for things such as joint pain and depression. Also, obese individuals who are metabolically healthy and unhealthy have no difference in life expectancy. The main idea is that no matter how much you weigh, eating healthy and exercising is extremely important and reduces your risks for disease.
I believe that although metabolically healthy individuals are in much better health than those who are metabolically unhealthy, it is still extremely important for both groups to work on losing weight. Eating healthy and exercising regularly is good for anyone, even for people of normal weight, and there's no reason a person who is obese but metabolically healthy should think they don't need to do that. Even if it doesn't make a huge difference in the stats of their health, I think the emotional changes would be enourmous. I know that whenever I get finished with a run or a long, grueling tennis match, I feel so good. The endorphines kick in and can always put me in a positive mood, even if I had previously been having a really horrible day. These obese, but "healthy" individuals could feel much healthier and become much more happier if they worked hard on exercising and eating right. Depression rates would go way down I would think, because along with the feel good emotions that endorphines create in people, it always feels good to get a compliment like, "Wow, you've lost weight! You look awesome!" I'm pretty sure anybody would rather be a size 6 than a size 25. And as for the study that found that the metabolically healthy people who lost weight and their insulin sensativity levels went down, I think that was caused by the way in which they lost weight. To just drink protein shakes or three saltine crackers at every meal or something, is not a good way to loose weight. But, if you eat healthy with whole grains, low-fat foods, and lots of fruits and vegetables with exercise, I really have a hard time believing anything bad could come from that. I guess all we can do is wait and see for more research to be done to see for sure.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39466130/ns/health-diet_and_nutrition/
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