The power of fitness

According to research into fitness levels of type 2 diabetics (reported in ReutersHealth), fitness is actually more important than thinness in lowering overall mortality:

Investigators found that diabetic men who were physically fit were less likely than their less-fit peers to die of any cause over about 15 years. What's more, men who were heavy yet fit had death risks similar to those of fit normal-weight men.

"This is a testament to the power of being physically active," said lead study author Dr. Timothy S. Church, medical director of the Cooper Institute in Dallas. "Essentially, fitness totally negated the effects of being overweight," he told Reuters Health. . . .

[L]ooking at the findings from a different perspective, thinness did not protect study participants from the ill effects of being out of shape. Among normal men, those who were the least fit were nearly seven times more likely to die than the most fit.

Doctors, Church said, should talk to all patients about getting and staying physically active.

Exactly why fitness cut death risk in this study is not fully clear, but better cardiovascular health almost certainly factored in, according to Church. However, the Cooper Institute researchers have also found that fitness is related to a lower risk of cancer death.