Obesity and metabolically healthy obesity: a review

Abstract

Obesity is an independent risk factor for the development of chronic degenerative diseases. However, since the 80s, it has been observed that some people, despite being obese, exhibit a metabolic profile similar to that of a person of normal weight, giving rise to the term “metabolically healthy obesity” (MHO) to describe this phenotype. This review provides information from clinical studies conducted in populations with obesity and/or the MHO phenotype, where epidemiological data and the different definitions of the MHO phenotype are described, as well as the characteristics of the inflammatory process that occurs in subjects with obesity and those with MHO. The potentially transient metabolic state of the MHO phenotype to metabolic syndrome is also discussed.

Keywords

• Obesity. Metabolically healthy obesity. Adipose tissue. Inflammation.