A recently published study has found that modestly overweighing people have a lower risk of death than the obese and the underweight people.

Classifying its subjects into three categories of obese, overweight and underweight, this study found that being overweight was not strongly associated with increased cancer or risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) but it surely provided an improved survival during recovery from infections.

Published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, this study suggested referring to your doctor to find out whether your body needed to gain or lose a little weight as most doctors and nutritionists would agree on the importance of maintaining healthy weight.

Authors of this study believed that good nutrition and a balanced diet contributed to longevity of life as ensuring regular meals made it easier to remember to take medications which reduces health issues.

Dr. Robert Post, Research Director at Virtua Family Medicine Residency in Voorhees and a faculty development fellow at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, said, “People don't think that they're overweight because overweight is the new normal. If you're going to have change, the first step is recognizing that there is a problem”.

Dr. Baron, a Professor at the University of California at San Francisco opined that expressing concern rather than comparing measured weight with standard definitions was likely to be effective.