Healthy lifestyle doesn’t fully offset obesity risks, study finds

Adherence to a healthy lifestyle is associated with a lower risk of developing a wide range of obesity-related diseases, but this association was modest among obese adults, according to a study published online May 26 in Open JAMA Network.

Nathalie Rassy, ​​Ph.D., of the Hôpital Européen Georges Pompidou in Paris, and colleagues examined the association between healthy lifestyle factors and the incidence of major obesity-related diseases among obese adults compared to those of normal weight. The analysis included 438,583 UK Biobank participants (aged 40 to 73 years) without major illness attributable to obesity at baseline, followed for 12.8 years. Healthy lifestyle factors included not smoking, exercising regularly, not smoking, or not exercising. moderate alcohol consumptionand eat one Balanced diet.

The researchers found that compared to obese adults who did not have any healthy lifestyle factors, obese people who met all four healthy lifestyle factors had a lower risk of hypertension (hazard ratio ( HR) of 0.84). ischemic heart disease (HR, 0.72), arrhythmias (HR, 0.71), heart failure (HR, 0.65), arteriosclerosis (HR, 0.19), renal failure (HR, 0.73), gout (HR, 0.51), sleep disorders (HR, 0.68) and blood disorders mood (HR, 0.66). The lowest risks were associated with the following lifestyle profiles: healthy diet, physical activity and never smoking. Obese adults had higher risk for several outcomes regardless of lifestyle score, with adjusted HRs ranging from 1.41 for arrhythmias to 7.16 for diabetes for obese adults and four factors related to healthy lifestyle compared to adults with normal weight.

“The results suggest that even if a healthy lifestyle appears beneficial, it does not fully offset the health risks associated with obesity,” the authors write.