LONDON (Reuters) - Overweight does not necessarily mean the heart is at risk, according to a Greek study, which reinforces growing evidence that overweight people do not always have health problems.
The study, published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, found that less than 10 percent of obese healthy people in their 50s and 60s who had no risk factors for heart disease had heart failure over six years.
In contrast, 16 percent of their hypersensitive counterparts who do not also have the risk factors known as metabolic syndrome were in a weakened state.
"Being in a normal weight does not necessarily mean we are healthy," said Christina Volgari of the University of Athens School of Medicine, who led the study.
Volgari and her colleagues followed 550 men and women, a quarter of whom were obese. The average age of participants was about 55 years.
More than two-thirds of obese people had risk factors for heart disease and coronary arteries, such as high blood lipid levels, low "good" cholesterol, high blood pressure, insulin resistance and increased waist, known as metabolic syndrome.
By comparison, just over a third of all normal weight holders also had these factors.
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