A new study reveals that being overweight is not as unhealthy as it was though, as being slightly overweight helps you live longer than those of ‘healthy weight’.

You no longer have to be slim to be healthy, as researchers say a person’s weight no longer denotes whether he is healthy or not, as better to be plump and exercise than slim and sedentary.

For instance, a person of normal weight may be stressed-out and leading a sedentary life, which means he may be in worse shape than one who despite being plump, exercises and has his stress levels under control.

American and Canadian researchers for over 12-years, tracked the health and habits of over 11,000-Canadians, dividing the men and women into five categories based on their Body Mass Index i.e. those whose BMI was 22.3 were considered within the normal weight range, below 18.5 was regarded as underweight, above 25 as overweight and above 30 obese, those with above 35 were classed as extremely obese.

The study found the underweight were 70% more likely to die than those of normal weight, followed by those who were extremely obese.  However, the obese lived roughly as long as those of normal weight, with the journal Obesity reporting those classed as overweight were 17% less likely to die.

Researcher Dr. Mark Feeny says it is not surprising that both extreme underweight and extreme obesity increase the risk of dying, however, what is surprising is that carrying a little extra weight actually gives one a longevity advantage.

He believes there could be several explanations, as for instance, due to concerns over their health, problems such as high blood pressure and diabetes in the overweight and obese may be detected and treated for health improvement.