Obesity may not always lead to ill-health, says study

A study by the Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis, Missouri found that obesity did not necessarily lead to ill-health.

For the study, 20 participants who were considered obese, had been asked to consume 1000-calorie worth of extra fast food for a few months: A quarter of them stayed healthy, despite gaining weight.

The study, published in the January edition of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, found that the participants did not suffer from ailments such as high blood pressure and high cholesterol.

The researchers, however, has not yet reached a final conclusion. Samuel Klein, Director of Washington University’s Center for Human Nutrition, posits that factors such as genetics, specific dietary intake, physical lifestyle, emotional health or even the microbes that live in the gut, may have played out in causing diseases in certain individuals who are obese.

“We need more studies to try to understand why obesity causes specific diseases in some people but not in others,” he added.

Category: Health alert, Top Story