Not many people react negatively when you tell them you’re addicted to exercise. Honestly, I wish I was struck with that affliction for about least three months. Some health researchers, however, feel that there may be a latent risk in regular exercise that may lead some fitness buffs to harm their bodies.

Researchers reviewed six previous studies and found that eight to 13 percent of people saw one of their cardiovascular risk factors worsen after exercise. Seven percent saw this effect for two or more risk factors together.

Exercise has always been thought of as the key to optimal health, helping thwart this nation’s most sinister diseases of the heart and cancers of the body. And according to the report published by PLoS One, it helped the majority of folks who suffered from most auto-immune diseases.

For a small group, nevertheless, exercise is not all good. The harmful effects remained even after researchers took into account other factors — age, amount of exercise, change in fitness during the study, health status and medications. Because few exercise studies follow participants over the long term, this review does not say that the harmful effects will lead to a heart attack or stroke.

The researchers are uncertain why some people are worse off after exercise. Future research will be needed, such as trying to identify which people will be negatively affected. It could be that tweaking the exercise program could eliminate the harmful effects seen by those people.

The researchers suggest that people who are already exercising continue with their regular program. For those who are just starting out with a workout plan, it’s important to have regular check-ups with your doctor to make sure you are headed in the right direction.