Body shape no impact on heart disease
Source: Agencies |
March 12, 2011, Saturday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
NEW research is challenging previous medical notions that "apple-shaped" people with more fat around their waist are at higher risk of heart attacks and strokes than "pear-shaped" people with fatter bottoms and hips.
A study of 220,000 people published yesterday confirmed that being obese - having a body mass index of 30 or more - is a major risk factor for heart disease, but found the distribution of fat on the body has no impact.
"Regardless of how you measure it, being obese is bad for your heart. This study suggests that measuring your waist is no better than calculating your BMI," said Mike Knapton, associate medical director at the British Heart Foundation charity, which part-funded the study. BMI is widely used by researchers and doctors to determine people's health risks. It is calculated by dividing weight in kilograms by height in meters squared.
According to researchers writing in The Lancet medical journal, previous studies have suggested that people with "central obesity" - often described as apple-shaped people - have a three times greater risk of heart attack than people with general obesity as -measured by BMI. But other experts have questioned those findings, so scientists from 17 countries set out to try and settle the issue. Their results suggest that the best predictors of future heart risk are measures of blood pressure, cholesterol and -history of diabetes.
The Lancet study involved taking weight, hip, waist, blood pressure, cholesterol and other key data from more than 220,000 adults - who had no previous history of heart disease - and tracking them for almost a decade. During that time, around 14,000 of them had heart attacks or strokes.
A study of 220,000 people published yesterday confirmed that being obese - having a body mass index of 30 or more - is a major risk factor for heart disease, but found the distribution of fat on the body has no impact.
"Regardless of how you measure it, being obese is bad for your heart. This study suggests that measuring your waist is no better than calculating your BMI," said Mike Knapton, associate medical director at the British Heart Foundation charity, which part-funded the study. BMI is widely used by researchers and doctors to determine people's health risks. It is calculated by dividing weight in kilograms by height in meters squared.
According to researchers writing in The Lancet medical journal, previous studies have suggested that people with "central obesity" - often described as apple-shaped people - have a three times greater risk of heart attack than people with general obesity as -measured by BMI. But other experts have questioned those findings, so scientists from 17 countries set out to try and settle the issue. Their results suggest that the best predictors of future heart risk are measures of blood pressure, cholesterol and -history of diabetes.
The Lancet study involved taking weight, hip, waist, blood pressure, cholesterol and other key data from more than 220,000 adults - who had no previous history of heart disease - and tracking them for almost a decade. During that time, around 14,000 of them had heart attacks or strokes.
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