Gaining just a little weight over time can have direct adverse effects on the heart, according to a study in the Journal of the American Heart Association, which included 1,262 middle-aged adults in the Dallas area without cardiovascular disease at the start.

A gain of as little as 5 percent of initial weight over seven years was associated with abnormal changes in the size, shape, structure, and function of the heart’s left ventricle, as seen on MRI heart scans, even in those who were initially at normal weight and after adjusting for age, race, smoking, blood pressure, diabetes, and other factors.

Such changes, collectively called cardiac remodeling, can eventually lead to heart failure by affecting the heart’s ability to hold and pump blood.

Conversely, even a little weight loss improved these measures, regardless of initial weight.

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