In the mid-1970s, those with the lowest death rates were a normal weight and the obese faced a 30% higher risk of early death, the doctors, from Copenhagen University, found.
But now the threat to people's survival from being obese was now almost negligible
但是现在肥胖对人类生存的威胁几乎可以忽略不计了。
The authors say the most likely explanation is that health systems are now much better at treating obesity-linked conditions, such as high cholesterol and blood pressure.
Lead investigator Prof Borge Nordestgaard said: "Our results should not be interpreted as suggesting that now people can eat as much as they like, or that so-called normal-weight individuals should eat more to become overweight. That said, maybe overweight people need not be quite as worried about their weight as before."
But that idea was rejected by a British expert in metabolic medicine.
但是这一想法被一位英国专攻新陈代谢的医学专家否决了。
Prof Naveed Sattar, from the University of Glasgow, said: "These data are of interest, but they do not change advice we have been giving on obesity and its treatment and prevention. The current findings do not mean that being overweight is protecting you from death, far from it."