You can't be fat and fit says expert

Being fat but fit is a myth, scientists claim. If you are overweight, doing lots of exercise will not prevent an early death. Researchers say it is far more important to be slim, even if you are unfit.

For years experts have believed it is possible to be 'fat but fit' and still relatively healthy. Heavier adults have assumed that those few extra pounds didn't matter as long as they took regular exercise. But findings from a Swedish study of more than 1.3 million men suggest they were wrong.

Professor Peter Nordstrom, from Umea University, looked at the records of men for an average of 29 years from when they were 18 to adulthood.

They had all joined the armed forces, which involved undertaking a fitness test on an exercise bike when they signed up. The men had also been weighed and measured, which enabled researchers to calculate whether they were obese.

Professor Nordstrom and his team then looked at the men's records to see who had since died from illnesses including cancer and heart disease.

They found that men who were fit were generally far less likely to die than if they were inactive. But this effect was cancelled out if they were overweight.