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There will be a lot of happy people today who can grin at being slightly overweight when they read about the facts in a new study that was reported in the journal “Obesity” by Statistics Canada researchers at the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research, Portland State University.

Apparently a study in the U.S. published in 2005 in the “Journal of the American Medical Association”, which came up with similar results, didn’t get the publicity that this study has gotten.

A 12-year (1994/1995 through 2006/2007) study of 11,326 adults in Canada, which studied the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and death, found that underweight people were 70% more likely (the most dangerous BMI) than people of normal weight to die, and extemely obese people were 36% more likely to die.

However, overweight individuals were 17% LESS likely to die unless they were obese (whose risk had the same result as people of normal weight).

So those with a BMI index that falls into the “overweight” range will probably live longer than a person with an “ideal” BMI!

According to one of the study’s authors, David Feeny, PhD, “…it is surprising that carrying a little extra weight may give people a longevity advantage.”

However, you really shouldn’t try to add pounds just because of this study. Many other factors have to be considered including the tendency to increase blood pressure, cholesterol, and diabetes with increased pounds. Continue to eat properly and exercise to promote your good health.