By Gene Emery NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Contrary to a popular theory, adults who are overweight when they are diagnosed with diabetes are not protected against dying early, a large new study shows. The findings call into question what’s known as the “obesity paradox,” the belief that people with a normal weight are more likely to die from type 2 diabetes than those who are overweight or obese. “There’s been a pretty polarized debate over whether this is real or not,” lead author Deirdre Tobias, from the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, told Reuters Health. The new report included more than 11,000 people in those studies who were diagnosed with diabetes.