Unexpected benefit of obesity – RT Arab

It seems that excess weight not only increases the risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease, but can protect its owners against death from stroke.

"Some time ago, our colleagues noticed that being overweight increased the risk of survival for patients with serious heart and kidney disease, so we decided to look for a link between obesity and stroke", said Zulio Liu of the University of California Los Angeles.

European and American doctors have recently discovered positive side effects on overweight, for example those who survive when they have serious infectious diseases. They also live longer after being diagnosed with heart failure than others.

Dr. Liu and his scientific team discovered that this occurred when a stroke occurred. They decided to follow the health of some 1,000 Californians who had been infected before a serious brain hemorrhage. The researchers divided into five groups based on the level of obesity and tracked their health changes within three months.

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The results of this follow-up showed that excess weight positively affected the patient's health. Deaths among the most obese were 62% lower than those who had a stroke and were not overweight. The same is observed in overweight people to varying degrees.

The researchers also noted that patients with leanness did not recover from the effects of stroke compared to moderate weight holders, but they failed to determine why.

"It may be because there is a greater reserve of nutrients in overweight people, which helps them survive longer," Liu said. "This is only a hypothesis and, to validate it, the health status of people with stroke needs to continue to determine the connection between body mass and brain bleeding."

Source: Novosti