By Kristen Hallam - 2012-09-05T08:29:06Z

Mario Tama/Getty Images

People walk and bathe on opening day of the newly renovated McCarren Park Pool on June 28, 2012 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City.

Being fat isnt always a bad thing, according to two studies by European and U.S. researchers.

Obese people who are otherwise physically fit had no greater risk of dying prematurely than those whose weight is normal, according to research partially funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health and Coca-Cola Co. (KO), the worlds biggest soft-drink maker. A separate study found that obese people with heart disease have a lower risk of dying early than underweight or normal-weight heart patients.

The findings undermine decades of public health messages, also supported by research, that obesity can accelerate the development of heart disease, diabetes and cancer and shrink lifespans, three European researchers who werent involved in the two studies wrote in an editorial that accompanied the results in the European Heart Journal today.

The prevailing wisdom holds that being slim must be generally good for you, Stephan von Haehling, Oliver Hartmann and Stefan Anker wrote in the editorial. Obesity may carry a benefit up to a certain degree, and it should be recognized that obesity is not necessarily associated with abnormal metabolic function.

The findings dont give people license to expand their waistlines, said Amy Thompson, a senior cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation. Instead, the studies serve as reminders that carrying fat around the belly and how fat affects your fitness may be more important than the numbers on the scale, Thompson said.

In the majority of cases, obesity is an undeniable risk factor for developing coronary heart disease, Thompson said in a statement. However, these studies remind us that it is not always your weight thats important, but where you carry fat and also how it affects your health and fitness.

Obesity belongs to a group of early warning signs of heart disease and diabetes known as metabolic syndrome, which affects about 25 percent of the worlds adults, according to the Brussels-based International Diabetes Federation. Obesity is usually defined by body mass index, which is calculated using a persons height and weight. The researchers in the first study used body fat measurements taken from skin folds or using water displacement, techniques thought to be more accurate than BMI.

Original post:
Fitness Trumps Fat as Health Gauge, Coke-Funded Research Shows