A new study by Swedish researchers has found out that obesity may not increase the risk of heart attack or premature death.
The report, published Monday in the online journal JAMA Internal Medicine, revealed research conducted on identical twins, one overweight and one leaner.
Twins were deemed a good case study as they are genetically the same and hence, provided a unique tool for evaluating risks associated with obesity independent of genetics.
"The heavier twin had a lower risk of heart attack or death than the leaner twin. However, as expected, the heavier twin had a higher risk of diabetes," said lead researcher Peter Nordstrom, who is also the chief physician in the department of community medicine and rehabilitation at Umea University.
"Lifestyle factors that decrease the amount of fatness may not reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease or death, although it will reduce the risk of [type 2] diabetes," he noted.
For the study, Nordstrom and team used the Swedish register of identical twins to collect data on about 4,000 pairs whose weights differed from one another. The study ran from March 1998 to January 2003 with the average age of the participant being 58 years.
The teamed followed the participants and found that 203 of the heavier twins had heart attacks and 550 died. On the other hand, among the leaner twins, 209 had heart attacks and 633 died.
Dr. Michael Davidson, a professor of medicine and director of preventive cardiology at the University of Chicago, agreed that obesity is not the cause of heart diseases.
"Obesity doesn't get you off the hook, because it increases the risk for diabetes, which is a cause of premature death," he said.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than one-third of the U.S. population is obese.