During this time there is a presumption that a fat person is not healthy. However, a recent study found that being fat does not necessarily mean unhealthy.
Researchers at York University in Toronto found that obesity alone does not increase the risk of death unless it is added to other metabolic risk factors, such as high blood sugar or high levels of bad cholesterol.
"This is very different from most of the literature," said Jennifer Kuk, a professor of kinesiology at the University of York, writing in a press release as reported by the New York Post.
He said most previous studies define "healthy" obesity is to have up to one metabolic risk factor, such as high blood sugar, and bad cholesterol, which increases the risk of death for anyone, skinny or obese.
The study looked at data from 54,089 men and women from five major studies, and divided them into two groups. The first group were those who were obese, and did not have metabolic risk factors. The second group, those who are obese and have metabolic problems, such as elevated glucose, blood pressure or fat.
Researchers then looked at how many people in each group died, and compared their numbers with mortality rates for people of average weight who did not have metabolic risk factors.
"We found that people with normal weight without other metabolic risk factors were equally likely to die as people with obesity and not have other risk factors," Kuk said.
According to their findings, "Individuals with metabolic healthy obesity are not really at a high mortality rate".