A new study suggests that being overweight can increase the survival rate of a type 2 diabetes patient by 13 percent, when compared to those who are within the normal or obese weight range.
A British study looked at the data of 10,500 patients with type 2 diabetes for an average of 11 years. These patients were not diagnosed with cardiovascular disease.
During the study period, the team saw that those who were classified as either normal or obese showed a higher risk of death due to cardiovascular disease than those who were overweight. The team found that the overweight people were 13 percent less likely to die than the other patients.
The researchers cited different reasons as to why their findings contradicted a common belief that obesity is a risk factor for diabetes. They found that patients with normal weight often smoked and drank alcohol, while the obese patients had themselves checked early for diabetes.
"It's likely those diabetic patients with normal weight have a more aggressive form of type-2 diabetes compared to those who are overweight and obese," Pierluigi Costanzo, study co-author from the Britain's University of Hull, told Reuters.
The researchers clarified that they don't recommend type 2 diabetes patients to pile on the pounds to lower their risk of death. They also did not provide a specific weight range that would potentially increase one's survival chances, according to a press release.
Nearly 29.1 million people, or 9.3 percent of the U.S. population, have diabetes, but only 21 million are diagnosed. The disease remains as the seventh leading cause of death in the country since 2010.
The study was published in the May 5 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine.
