According to a new study, obese people are not always metabolically unhealthy while many slim people have health problems usually linked to obesity.

Reported in the August 11 - 25 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, the study at the University of Tübingen in Germany studied obese participants and found that their cardiovascular risk factors of insulin sensitivity and artery wall thickness did not greatly differ from those with a normal body weight.

Nobert Stefan, M.D., and colleagues from the University of Tubingen, said insulin sensitivity was similar in people with normal weight, as was the intimae-media thickness of the common carotid artery.

Another study at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in Bronx, N.Y., also showed similar results. 23.5 % of normal-weight adults were found to be metabolically abnormal with at least two risk factors being high while 51.3 % overweight adults had their heart disease indicators in the right position and 31.7 % of obese adults were found to be metabolically healthy.

Rachel Wildman, a principal co-author of the report said, "We kind of got it into our heads that obesity is automatically bad for you. But this study shows that there is a subset of obese individuals who don't develop adverse effects."

The findings were based on data collected on a national level from 5440 adults whose height, weight, blood pressure, “good” cholesterol, triglycerides, blood sugar and an inflammatory marker called c-reactive protein, all of which are viewed as indicators of cardiovascular health, were, monitored. The researchers found that though overall thin people were metabolically healthier than their obese counterparts, weight was not a very reliable indication of being healthy.

Study author Mary Fran Sowers, a University of Michigan obesity researcher, told The Associated Press that ‘’less voluptuous'’ people could have similar risk factors as the overweight do, and regarding weight and health risks “We’re really talking about taking a look with a very different lens.'’

Though the study shows the unreliability of body size as an indicator for overall health, what was earlier recommended seems to be true that its better to be fat but fit, rather than being thin and leading a sedentary life.

"I don't want it to be an excuse for overweight people to eat an unhealthy diet," said a spokesman from the American Dietetic Association.