Posted on 05/19/2009 1:34:22 AM PDT by Schnucki
Obesity may protect against death from heart disease, scientists from Louisiana claim.
Researchers found that obese heart patients respond better to strokes and heart attacks compared to normal or underweight patients.
Although obesity is a leading cause of heart disease, paradoxically scientists say fat and even high cholesterol may have protective benefits.
But researchers say losing weight is still best because obesity triggers more heart attacks and strokes.
Cardiologist Carl J. Lavie, of the Ochsner Medical Center in New Orleans, Louisiana, said: " Overweight heart patients do better than thin patients, but overweight patients who lose weight do best of all.
"It is important to remember that obesity is the leading cause of heart death, and overweight and obese patients have a much higher incidence of heart attacks and strokes."
The obesity paradox has been studied since Kamyar Kalantar-Zadeh published his findings in the journal Kidney International in 2003.
It is knowns as "reverse epidemiology" where obesity and even high cholesterol may have protective benefits and be associated with a greater survivability in certain groups of people such as the very elderly and those with certain chronic diseases.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
You are correct. Some of us are hardwired for portleyness. I was <135 till 45 and then zoomed to 180. The extra mass is t support porlonged period of dearth.
There is apparently a line that when crossed causes the excess tobe harmful. For me that point is 210.
I am sure that you aren’t quite as fit as you think.
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