Obesity not always tied to higher heart risk: study

An obese person isn't inevitably at increased risk of cardiovascular disease and death, a new U.K. study finds.

"The people really at risk are the ones who have obesity in combination with other metabolic health risk factors," said Mark Hamer, a principal research associate at University College London who worked on the study.

The results are in line with most previous research that defined metabolic health as having normal levels of markers like blood pressure, blood sugar, HDL, or "good" cholesterol, and C-reactive protein, which is a measure of inflammation in the body.

"People with good metabolic health are not at risk of future heart disease - even if they are obese," Hamer told Reuters Health.

On the flip side, the non-obese in poor metabolic shape face as much risk as the unhealthy obese, the researchers concluded.

The findings, published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, are based on more than 22,000 middle-aged participants in national health studies conducted in England and Scotland.

According to the researchers, the results suggest that metabolic factors may be more important in predicting a person's risk of cardiovascular disease than excess body weight in itself.

Obesity Wars: Coca-Cola, McDonald's, and 7-Eleven See the Lite

While they suffer from even more ignominy under a new glare induced by the HBO documentary series The Weight of the Nation, the roundly condemned purveyors of "junk" salt, sugar and calories aren't exactly lying low and saying their mea culpas. McDonald's, Coca-Cola and 7-Eleven are each fighting back in their own way.

Coca-Cola has launched a test of its own new "mid-calorie" sodas to join PepsiCo in trying once again the concept of a "hybrid" diet/non-diet drink even though other attempts by both companies to mine a moderately-minded market have failed. Coke plans to test Sprite Select and Fanta Select products this summer - with only half the calories, 70 of regular drinks per 12-ounce can - in test markets in Atlanta, Detroit, Louisville and Memphis.
Interestingly, Coke's new toe in the mid-calorie water will depend on a blend of sugar: Cargill's Truvia brand of natural sweetener stevia plus erythritol, a "sugar alcohol" (unlike the ingredients in PepsiCo's new, nationally available mid-cal, Pepsi Next, which includes sucralose and high-fructose corn syrup). That gives Coke a leg up on an "more natural" claim it might want to make for select beverages against Next.

Meanwhile, McDonald's keeps fighting public perceptions that it is a willing enabler of the rampant global obesity problem. In Australia, for example, a local effort is afoot in Melbourne to hit McDonald's, KFC and other fast-food outlets with a so-called "fat tax" of higher rates.