By
Amy Oliver
For those who can't resist a second biscuit with their cup of tea, there's good news.
Fat people can be as healthy as thin people as long as they lead a healthy lifestyle, a study has shown.
Eric
M Matheson and a team of doctors from the Medical University of South
Carolina, tracked the BMIs of 12,000 people over 14 years.
Results: Doctors found that obese people who
took part in 'healthy activities' carried roughly the same risk of dying
young as their thinner counterparts
They found that obese people who took part in 'healthy activities' like eating five or
more fruits and vegetables daily, exercising regularly, consuming
alcohol in moderation, and not smoking, carried roughly the same risk of dying young as their thinner counterparts.
The obese people who did not have a
healthy lifestyle were most at risk, the study published in the Journal
of the American Board of Family Medicine, concluded.
Lisa Wade, an Assistant Professor of
Sociology at Occidental College, Los Angeles, wrote on The Society
Pages, the study showed that 'thinness is protective if
people are doing absolutely nothing to enhance their health.'
Graph: The 'hazard ratio' on the Y axis shows
the risk of dying young, with one being the baseline, while the 'habits'
on the X axis shows the number of healthy habits a respondent had
She added:
'Overweight and obese people can have the same mortality risk as "normal"
weight people; therefore, we should reject the idea that fat people are
“killing themselves” with their extra pounds. It’s simply not true.'
Dr Matheson examined the association
between healthy lifestyle habits and mortality in a sample of 11,761 men
and women with BMIs ranging from normal weight to obese.
The purpose of the study was to find an association between healthy lifestyle habits and mortality with a wide range of BMIs.
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