According to a U.S. study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, a person’s fitness level plays a much more significant role than body weight in determining cardiovascular health and mortality. The study found that cardiorespiratory fitness is a stronger predictor of both cardiovascular disease and overall mortality than BMI.
The researchers analysed 20 studies involving 3,98,716 adults, aged 42 to 64, from various countries. About 30 per cent were women.
Fit individuals, regardless of weight, had similar risks of death from all causes and cardiovascular disease. On the other hand, unfit individuals across all weight categories had two- to three-fold higher risks of both all-cause and cardiovascular disease mortality compared with fit individuals with normal weight. Obese but fit individuals had a significantly lower risk of death than normal weight individuals who were unfit.
“Fitness, it turns out, is far more important than fatness when it comes to mortality risk. Exercise is more than just a way to expend calories. It is excellent ‘medicine’ to optimise overall health and can largely reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and all-cause death for people of all sizes,” the study author said.