Obese people at increased risk of life-threatening disease even if they appear medically healthy

Obese people have an increased risk of developing cancer – even if they appear medically healthy, according to a study.

Normal blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar levels were not a guarantee in overweight people.

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The findings are further evidence against the notion that people can be “fat but fit,” experts said.

Researchers from Lund University in Malmö, Sweden, examined health data from almost 800,000 Europeans.

They found that obese people with “metabolic complications” are most at risk.

Study author Dr. Ming Sun said, “A significant number of cancer cases could potentially be prevented by targeting the coexistence of metabolic problems and obesity.”

Metabolically healthy men with obesity had a 67 percent increased risk of kidney cancer and a 42 percent increased risk of colon cancer, researchers said.

But the association with both pancreatic cancer and rectal cancer was no longer statistically significant.

Being overweight but not obese increased your risk of developing the blood cancer multiple myeloma by 50 percent.

Surprisingly, however, neither metabolically healthy nor unhealthy men were more prone to obesity than their normal-weight peers.