Obesity worse on men

Severely obese women may be healthier than their male counterparts. New research shows that severely obese men were less physically fit, more prone to diabetes and more carbohydrate-intolerant than women. The findings could eventually influence how doctors select candidates for weight-loss surgery.

“It’s quite surprising that men were doing so much worse than women,” says lead scientist Emile Dubois, a pulmonologist at the Hospital Reinier de Graaf Groep in the Netherlands. “We expected that carrying an extra 100 pounds all day long would benefit the leg muscles, especially in men, who tend to be more muscular.”

Dubois and colleagues studied 22 men and 34 women who were severely obese and considering weight-loss surgery. Men and women were of similar age and body mass index, and none of the participants had been diagnosed with heart disease or diabetes.

Fifty-nine percent of the men had carbohydrate intolerance or diabetes compared with only 35% of the women.

Men also had higher blood glucose and insulin levels, which are signs of metabolic syndrome, a group of medical conditions, including obesity, diabetes and hypertension, that can lead to heart disease.

Researchers are unsure why men and women’s health vary so significantly. They speculate that women may store fat more efficiently, because of an inherent need to feed their offspring.

The research was reported in the July issue of Chest.