Fat chance: Not all obese people prone to poor health, says study

US scientists encouraged 20 obese people to eat extra fast food for several months, and found that about a quarter stayed in good health despite the additional pounds they gained. The study in the January 2 edition of the Journal of Clinical Investigation was led by a team of scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis, Missouri. Subjects were encouraged to eat 1,000 extra calories per day, mainly by frequenting fast food restaurants with the goal of adding six percent of their body weight.

This was not easy to do. It is just as difficult to get people to gain weight as it is to get them to lose weight.

Chief author Elisa Fabbrini, assistant professor of medicine

Those not suffering from ailments typically associated with obesity at the outset of the study — such as insulin resistance, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and excess liver fat — did not have these problems even after adding about 15 pounds (seven kilograms) to their already overweight frames, said the findings. The results mirror what scientists have seen in the general population, which is that about a quarter of obese people do not appear to suffer from metabolic complications that can lead to heart attack, diabetes and stroke. But those whose did suffer from metabolic problems before the study grew even worse when they put on extra weight.

We need more studies to try to understand why obesity causes specific diseases in some people but not in others.

Samuel Klein, director of Washington University’s Center for Human Nutrition

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