"The groundwork of all happiness is health." - Leigh Hunt

Being chubby is linked to poor heart health should you exercise.

In newspapers

Can you be “fat and fit” – meaning chubby but still healthy resulting from regular exercise? There isn't any easy answer. But one study says that activity doesn't completely reverse the consequences of weight on heart health. The results were published online on 26 January 2021. European Journal of Preventive Cardiology.

The study involved greater than 527,000 adults, nearly 70 percent of whom were men. People were placed into three groups based on their body mass index (BMI): normal, chubby and obese. They were also grouped by activity level: commonly energetic (the minimum required by the World Health Organization, or WHO); Insufficiently energetic (lower than the WHO minimum, but some moderate physical activity per week), and no exercise.

When all the information were compared, there was excellent news and never so excellent news. The excellent news: An individual with no BMI, any level of activity, was related to a lower likelihood of high cholesterol, hypertension and diabetes in comparison with no exercise.

The not-so-good news: Overweight and particularly obese people were still at higher cardiovascular risk than normal-weight people, no matter activity level. The results showed just one association, but they suggest that although regular exercise is essential, people still have to concentrate to extra weight.

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