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Obesity doesn’t always mean poor heart health

Category: Heart Health and Cholesterol

It is well known that obese individuals are more likely to develop heart disease. However, they may not be as likely to receive unhealthy cholesterol results as once thought, according to a new study out of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey.

The team analyzed the medical records of 454 individuals who had body mass indexes over 30, which is commonly considered to be obese. While the results showed that the majority did have rick factors for heart disease, including high cholesterol, a sizable percentage of the group had completely normal heart health.

“Our results indicate that metabolically healthy obese individuals may represent as much as 20 to 30 percent of obese population,” said Dr. Adarsh Gupta, who led the investigation. “This highlights the need for clinicians to be cautious when using obesity as a criterion for prescribing treatment.”

The metabolically healthy group of obese participants tended to be significantly younger, indicating that age may be one of the most important factors a doctor can take into consideration when assessing the heart health of obese patients.