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A new study has revealed that people who are at an average weight and diagnosed with type 2 diabetes have more than twice the risk of dying from heart disease and other causes than those who are overweight. 

Type 2 diabetes is usually associated with people who are overweight, but the study found that nearly one in eight people diagnosed with type 2 diabetes were of normal weight and the disease could be more more active in people who aren't overweight when they're diagnosed.

The study was published in the Aug. 8 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Study author Mercedes Carnethon said that the findings were surprisng. 

"Overweight and obesity confers certain protective effects in end-stage renal disease and heart failure," Carnethon said. "It's called the obesity paradox." 

The obesity paradox is the idea that, despite being at a higher risk of many chronic conditions, obese people seem to be protected from dying of certain diseases, such as heart disease.

Researchers examined previous studies of over 2,600 people diagnosed with diabetes between 1990 and 2006. The participants were all over age 40, 50 percent were male and about 66 percent were white. 

Researchers classified the participants based on their body-mass index. A BMI of 18.5 to 24.99 is considered normal weight, while anything over 25 was considered overweight or obese.

Overall, 12 percent of the study participants were normal weight at diagnosis.

During the study, almost 450 people died from cardiovascular disease and other unknown causes.

Researchers factored in things such as waist circumference, smoking status, demographic and blood pressure and cholesterol levels. 

They found that people who were normal weight when diagnosed with type 2 diabetes had more than twice the risk of dying from heart disease than their overweight counterparts. They also had a 2.32 times higher risk of dying from any other cause compared to their overweight peers.

Researchers said that type 2 diabetes in the absence of obesity doesn't mean a lower risk of bad outcomes. 

"Right now, about 5 percent to 15 percent of people with type 2 diabetes are normal weight, and that proportion overall is going up," Carnethon said. Physicians need to take this group seriously and treat them as aggressively."

According to the U.S. National Library of Medicine, exercise is important if you have diabetes, because your heart beats faster and you breathe faster helps lower your blood sugar level without medication. 

Exercise can help your health by improving blood flow and blood pressure. Exercise also increases the body's energy level, lowers tension, and improves your ability to handle stress.

In a study published online in Archives of Internal Medicine, it is believed that lifting weights could significantly cut down the risk of type 2 diabetes, and the results are even better if weight lifting is accompanied by aerobics.