Does "Metabolically Healthy Obesity" Exist?

Obesity is strongly associated with metabolic alterations and negative health outcomes including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and some types of cancer (1, 2, 3, 4).  Excess body fat is one of the primary causes of preventable health problems and mortality in the United States and many other affluent nations, ranking in importance with cigarette smoking and physical inactivity.  Obesity is thought to contribute to disease via the metabolic disturbances it causes, including excess glucose and lipids in the circulation, dysregulated hormone activity including insulin and leptin, and inflammatory effects.  This immediately raises two questions:

1. Does metabolically healthy obesity exist?
2. If so, are metabolically healthy obese people at an elevated risk of disease and death?

Does metabolically healthy obesity exist?

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A week with protein, starting with granola bars.

i had a moment last week, when i realized aidan basically does not eat protein. he'll eat most fruits and vegetables; brussel sprouts, cabbage, mango and pomegranate but give him chicken, red meat and most recently salmon or tofu and "bleh" he says as he spits it out. he scrutinizes the protein, assessing any imperfection or what he percieves to be "fatty".

in all fairness, he likely has my type A blood, making him a lover of all things vegetarian. he does best with vegetarian sources of protein; almond butter by the tablespoon (but not the bottom chunky parts), hummus (brand dependent), beans a few times per week (black or kidney), chicken soup (only the broth, no chunks), eggs (over easy) and cheddar cheese (no other dairy). can we say picky? ahhhh.

i use genuine health proteins + and am re-vamping my kids favourite delights with this whey protein powder. sneaky and perfect. whey is the most bioavailable form of protein and this brand is clean and GMO free. so i thought i would share today's re-creation. 

Granola Bars
4 cups of oats (gluten free)
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
1/8 cup brown sugar 
1/4 cup of GH vanilla protein powder (it's about 60 grams of protein)
1/4 cup pumpkin seeds
1/4 cup flax seeds
1/4 cup dark chocolate chips (optional. what kid does not love this ingredient?)

in a separate bowl i whip;
1/2 cup oil and 1/2 cup maple syrup (i use the grade C syrup from noah's natural foods. love it.) and 1 tsp vanilla. add this mixture to the oats and mix.

preheat oven to 325F. i place the mixture in a dish lined with parchment paper. bake for 35 min. (my oven runs hot). when it cools remove from dish and cut up into pieces. enjoy.

he likes it!