Research

Mixed

In people with diabetes, maintaining an overweight or obese BMI (≥23.0 kg/m²) is associated with a significantly lower risk of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) and all-cause mortality compared to a normal-weight BMI (18.5–22.9 kg/m²).

If you have diabetes, do not strive for a 'normal' BMI if it requires losing weight. This study shows that being overweight or obese is associated with lower heart event and death risks compared to being normal weight in diabetic patients. Focus on managing blood sugar and blood pressure rather than weight loss, unless advised otherwise for other reasons. Being underweight is a significant risk factor for mortality.

GoodQualifiesHIGH confidence
In people with diabetes, underweight people had a higher risk for all-cause mortality, whereas overweight or obese people had a lower risk for MACE and all-cause mortality than those with a normal weight.
Dong Hun Lee et al. · Journal of Obesity & Metabolic Syndrome · 2018

Why this rating

Large cohort study (n=48,438) with long follow-up (median 10.7 years) and rigorous adjustment for confounders, though observational design limits causal inference.

Source

Association of Body Mass Index with Risk of Major Adverse Cardiovascular Events and Mortality in People with Diabetes

Dong Hun Lee et al. · Journal of Obesity & Metabolic Syndrome · 2018

DOI 10.7570/jomes.2018.27.1.61

cohort · n=48438Cited 13×
Read the paper
DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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