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“You really need to take the emphasis off trying to attain this normal body weight, because lifestyle practices are equally, if not more important.”

Both studies relied on the Edmonton Obesity Staging System, which grades obesity on a scale of zero to four, and notably takes into account the presence — or absence — of a spectrum of disease.

In a study published Monday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, University of Alberta researchers tested the system using data from a survey of 8,143 people in two U.S. national health and nutrition surveys.

They found that after adjusting for age, history of smoking and metabolic syndrome (a cluster of conditions such as high blood pressure and diabetes) about 2% of people at Stage 0 or 1 died during followup, compared to about 40% of Stage 3 patients.

“That’s a huge difference,” said Arya Sharma, who first proposed the Edmonton classification system.

“What this actually means is if I examine people today and I see that they’re Stage 0 or Stage 1, I can tell them to eat as healthy and be as physically active as possible rather than running out and trying to lose weight,” said Dr. Sharma, chair of obesity research and management at the University of Alberta in Edmonton.

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Under Stage 0, the person is obese, but has no apparent obesity-related health risks, meaning their blood pressure, blood fats and other risks are all within the normal range.

Stage 1 obesity describes people with “sub-clinical” signs of trouble, such as borderline high blood pressure, elevated liver enzymes and occasional aches and pains.