New research is taking aim at the idea that you can be both overweight and healthy at the same time. A small number of recent studies have indicated that overweight or obese people that don't have high blood pressure, diabetes or and normal cholesterol levels can be just as healthy as their normal weight counterparts. But not so fast say researchers from Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto, Canada.

According to new research published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, people with a higher than normal BMI still had a higher risk of dying early or having heart related problems even without high cholesterol or abnormal blood pressure.  The researchers concluded that there's no such thing as "benign obesity", or obesity that doesn't affect a person's health.

Can you be overweight and still physically healthy? Why is there such a discrepancy among studies about the link between weight and health? Does a person's physical fitness level factor into discussions about health?

Guest:
Dr. Caroline Kramer, M.D.endocrinologist and diabetes specialist; research fellow at Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto, Canada.