CHICAGO — A new study suggests that a surprising number of overweight people — about half — have normal blood pressure and cholesterol levels, while an equally startling number of trim people suffer from some of the ills associated with obesity.
The first national estimate of its kind bolsters the argument that you can be hefty but still healthy, or at least healthier than has been thought.
The results show stereotypes about body size can be misleading and that “less voluptuous” people can have risk factors usually associated with obesity, said study author MaryFran Sowers, a University of Michigan obesity researcher.
“We’re really talking about taking a look with a very different lens” at weight and health risks, Sowers said.
The study estimates that about 51 percent of overweight adults nationwide, roughly 36 million people, have mostly normal levels of blood pressure, cholesterol, blood fats called triglycerides and blood sugar.
Almost one-third of obese adults, nearly 20 million people, are in this healthy range, meaning that none or only one of those measures was abnormal.
Yet it’s estimated that about a fourth of adults in the recommended weight range have unhealthy levels of at least two measures, meaning about 16 million of them are at risk for heart problems.
Dr. Robert Eckel, a former American Heart Association president and professor of medicine at the University of Colorado, said the research might help dismiss the generalizations that are sometimes made about weight and health.
Study co-author Judith Wylie- Rosett emphasized that the study shouldn’t send the message “that we don’t need to worry about weight.”
That’s because half of overweight people do face elevated risks for heart disease, said Wylie- Rosett, a nutrition researcher at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York.
But, for those without elevated risks, losing weight “might be important only from a cosmetic perspective,” she said.
To arrive at the estimates, scientists analyzed nationally representative government surveys involving 5,440 people ages 20 and older and extrapolated to calculate nationwide figures.
The new study appeared Monday in the Archives of Internal Medicine. It used government surveys from 1999 to 2004 that included lab tests and height and weight measurements. Participants reported on habits such as smoking and physical activity.
