According to reports in the August 11 - 25 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, weight is not always the one responsible for cardiovascular and metabolic problems.

One study at the University of Tübingen in Germany showed obese participants are not different from normal weight ones when it comes to the cardiovascular risk factors of insulin sensitivity and artery wall thickness. According to Nobert Stefan, M.D., and colleagues from the University of Tubingen, insulin sensitivity is the same with those of normal weight, and so is the intimae-media thickness of the common carotid artery.

A separate study conducted at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in Bronx, N.Y., also came to a similar conclusion. 23.5 percent of normal-weight adults were found to be metabolically abnormal. However 51.3 percent of overweight adults and 31.7 percent of obese adults were metabolically healthy.

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

5,440 people whose levels of risk factors were measured between 1999 and 2004 were analyzed. It appears that 51% of overweight adults (36 million Americans) have their heart disease indicators in the right position. Moreover 32% of obese people (20 million obese Americans) were found healthy.

It appears that waist size is a more accurate way of determining someone's health risks. The reports confirmed this information.

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