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Although three-quarters of the Maltese population may be overweight or obese, it does not necessarily mean they are unhealthy, according to a local study that revealed that over half its overweight and obese participants are in good metabolic health.

This means their glucose, cholesterol and blood pressure parameters are within normal levels, despite a high body mass index. This amounts to 40% of the Maltese population.

The study was carried out by PhD candidate Dr Rachel Agius together with Prof. Stephan Fava and Prof. Nikolai Paul Pace from the University’s Faculty of Medicine & Surgery. They are specialised doctors in the field of obesity and diabetes, but as they themselves clarified, they were definitely not sending out a message that being obese is ok.

The local research focused on the prevalence of adult individuals living with obesity, who are metabolically healthy, and that of lean persons, who despite having a normal BMI, were not necessarily better off in terms of metabolic health.

As a result, accumulating data showed that individuals with what has been termed metabolically healthy obese were likely to be at a lower risk of certain complications, such as type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease, compared not only to those individuals falling within the obese and unhealthy category, but also compared to the metabolically unhealthy normal weight individuals.

The study, in fact, also showed that one in three Maltese adults are metabolically unhealthy, irrespective of their BMI, and therefore, at a higher risk of disease than the newly discovered ‘obese but healthy’ category. 

Referring to the landmark Birmingham University study, she underlined that obesity is a disease and carried health consequences, irrespective of metabolic health. 

“While metabolically healthy obese individuals are still at risk of certain diseases, compared to the gold standard – normal weight and metabolically healthy people – those with a normal weight, who have even just one metabolic problem, such as high fats, can be at higher risk of heart attack than those who are obese but healthy and would need to check their sugars, fats and blood pressure,” Agius reiterated.

More information about the study can be found .