Are you healthy fat? Scientists look to identify those not suffering normal risks of excess weight
- From: News Corp Australia Network
- August 30, 2013
ARE you healthy fat?
Scientists want to figure out why some people with a high body mass index do not appear to be at an increased risk of the health complications usually associated with excess weight.
It's a question they hope could ease pressure on the public health budget by helping to calculate how many people are "fat and fit" - ensuring the right patients are given appropriate and cost-effective treatment.
In a new research paper published in The Lancet medical journal, scientists say costly weight-loss interventions, such as gastric band surgery, could then be targeted to only the most at-risk overweight people.
Those with "metabolically healthy obesity" have a body mass index greater than 30 but are protected from health conditions such as cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes.
Possible factors that might identify the condition - including waist circumference, insulin resistance and physical fitness - have been outlined but researchers say "considerably more research" is needed.
Dr Adam Fraser, a physiologist at the Glucose Club, said such research was "critical" to measuring the impact on Australia's health budget.
He said many Australians were "fit and fat" but still attracted the stigma of being unhealthy.
"I've come across a number of these people (but) society is massively hung up on weight," Dr Fraser said.
He said the fact some healthy people were "still carrying too much weight around (their) stomach" should not be a negative thing.
The "skinny is healthy" mindset was not true, he said.
"There's lots of skinny people who are unhealthy," he said. "What all this data is focusing on is that being physically active and eating well has benefits beyond just how you look in the mirror.
"We have to change the perception - just because you're skinny doesn't mean you're healthy."
Dr Jarrod Meerkin, a spokesman for Exercise and Sports Science Australia, said there needed to be a shift in how people perceived being "fat".
"Most people still think that the BMI is the be all and end all unfortunately," he said.
"There certainly are many people who wander around who, if they are measure outside the (healthy BMI scale) ... might be still considered quite fit as well."
However, Dr Meerkin warned against people finding comfort in the "fat but fit" approach, because being overweight still had strong links with serious health problems.
People who carried more weight faced a greater risk of long-term medical issues and it was important they be more vigilant about their health.