Research
Mixed
Obesity without metabolic syndrome ('metabolically healthy obesity') significantly increases the 5-year cumulative incidence of hypertension and diabetes compared to lean subjects without metabolic syndrome.
If you are overweight or obese, even if your current blood pressure and blood sugar are normal, you are at a significantly higher risk of developing hypertension and diabetes within five years compared to someone of normal weight. You should not assume 'normal labs' mean 'no risk.'
GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
Subjects with overweight/obesity but without metabolic syndrome carried increased cumulative incidence of hypertension (14.6% vs. 7.2%, P < 0.001) and diabetes (2.6% vs. 1.1%, P = 0.004) over 5 years compared to lean/normal subjects without metabolic syndrome.
Why this rating
Large cohort (n=9,721), longitudinal design (5 years), adjusted for multiple confounders, but retrospective.
Source
“Metabolically Healthy” Obesity and Hyperuricemia Increase Risk for Hypertension and Diabetes: 5‐year Japanese Cohort Study
Masanari Kuwabara et al. · Obesity · 2017
DOI 10.1002/oby.22000
cohort · n=9721Cited 90×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
Related findings · Mixed
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