Being 'fat but fit' is a myth, according to new research

The idea of people being fat but fit is nothing more than a myth, health experts have discovered.

Obese people are at increased risk of heart attacks and strokes, even if they otherwise appear healthy, new research has found.

UK researchers are carrying out an extensive study into the GP records of 3.5 million NHS patients – and their early work seemingly suggests that it is not possible to be very overweight and healthy.

They claim that obese people who had no initial signs of heart disease, high cholesterol or diabetes were not immune from ill health in later life – contradicting the findings of previous studies.

Researchers analysed NHS records (Picture: REX Features)This latest study saw researchers at the University of Birmingham analyse data from millions of British patients between 1995 and 2015 to see if if there was any truth to the ‘fat but fit’ theory.

They tracked people who were obese at the start of the study (defined as having a Body Mass Index of 30 or more), but did not have any evidence of heart disease, high cholesterol, high blood pressure or diabetes.

They found that while they were ‘metabolically healthy’, they were at a greater risk of developing heart disease, strokes and heart failure than those of a healthy weight.

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Speaking to the BBC, Dr Mike Knapton from the British Heart Foundation, said: ‘These findings should be taken extremely seriously and I’d urge healthcare professionals to take heed.

‘What was new from this study for me is that it showed that people who were overweight or obese were at increased risk of heart disease even though they may have been healthy in every other respect.

‘Just being overweight puts you at increased risk of heart attack and strokes.’

Body Mass Index is used by medical professionals to value a person’s height against their weight in order to usually establish if they are obese.

If a person’s bodyweight is 20 percent more than it should be for their height, they are considered obese.

An NHS definition states: ‘BMI isn’t used to definitively diagnose obesity, because people who are very muscular sometimes have a high BMI without excess fat. But for most people, BMI is a useful indication of whether they’re a healthy weight, overweight or obese.’