[Lifestayle] Being overweight means poorer heart health, even if you exercise

[WilkerCSBD]

You cannot be fat, but healthy. A study finds that physical activity does not cancel out the negative effects of excess body weight on heart health.

This is the main conclusion of a study, with Spanish participation, published this Thursday in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, of the European Society of Cardiology.

The research refutes the idea that a physically active lifestyle can completely cancel out the harmful effects of overweight and obesity, explains Alejandro Lucía, from the European University of Madrid, who stresses: "You cannot be fat, but healthy" .

The study used data from 527,662 workers in Spain, with a mean age of 42 years and with 32% women. Participants were classified as normal weight (with a body mass index of 20-24.9), overweight (25-29.9), and obesity (30 or higher).

In addition, they were grouped by activity level: regularly active, defined as those who do the minimum recommended for adults by the World Health Organization; insufficiently active (some moderate to vigorous physical activity each week, but less than the WHO minimum); and inactive (no exercise).

Risk of heart attack and stroke
Cardiovascular health was determined based on the three main risk factors for heart attack and stroke: diabetes, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure.

About 41% of the participants were normal weight, 41% overweight, and 18% of the people were obese. Most were inactive (63.5%), while 12.3% were insufficiently active and 24.2% were regularly active.
30% had high cholesterol, 15% high blood pressure and 3% diabetes, explains a statement from the European Society of Cardiology, which details that the researchers studied the associations between each group of body mass index (BMI) and activity and the three risk factors.

At all BMI levels, any activity (regardless of whether or not it met the WHO minimum) was associated with a lower likelihood of diabetes, high blood pressure, or high cholesterol, compared to no exercise.

"This tells us that everyone, regardless of their body weight, should be physically active to safeguard their health," sums up Lucía.
At all weights, the odds of diabetes and hypertension decreased as physical activity increased - more activity is better, so walking 30 minutes a day is better than walking 15.

However, overweight and obese participants had a higher cardiovascular risk than their normal-weight peers, regardless of activity levels.

For example, compared to inactive normal-weight individuals, the actively obese were about twice as likely to have high cholesterol, four times as likely to have diabetes, and five times as likely to have high blood pressure.

"Exercise does not seem to offset the negative effects of excess weight," concludes this researcher, who points out that the findings were generally observed in men and women.

For Lucía, "the fight against obesity and inactivity is equally important; it should be a joint battle. Weight loss must remain a primary objective of health policies, along with the promotion of active lifestyles."