A new study has added some heft to the "fit and fat is fine" argument by reporting that diabetes, not obesity, increases the risk of illness and early death.

The study, published in the journal Critical Care, analyzed data from more than 15,000 participants of a government-funded study that has been running since 1987. The researchers looked at the risk of organ failure and death among overweight and obese people with diabetes, and compared it with that of all people with diabetes.

They found that diabetes, whatever a person's weight, increases the risk for future organ failure, illness and early death, according to a report in the Denver Post.

What do you think? Can you be fat and fit?

-- Amanda Barrett, amNY.com