Exercise is beneficial even for people who are overweight or obese.
"New data suggests that no matter how much you weigh, including physical activity in your day helps protect your heart," Everyday Health reported.
For years, there have been discussions on whether people can be fat but fit. A study in the journal BMC Obesity analyzed 853 patients who were overweight or obese.
This study, and other studies too, suggest exercise offers a cardiac benefit, Dr. John Morton, chief of bariatric and minimally invasive surgery at Stanford Health Care in California, told Everyday Health. "But the data shouldn't be interpreted as meaning that people who are obese are just as fit-and can have the same level of fitness for an extended period of time-as people who are not obese," Everyday Health reported, noting Morton added overall being at a higher weight is detrimental to overall health. But one of the study's authors said the protective effect of fitness on heart health was striking.
