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Watch Your Waistline
Time to break out your tape measure, as a large waist size is increasingly being linked to heart disease risk. Even people with a normal weight can be contenders for heart disease if they have a large waistline. A study carried out for Circulation journal found that waist size alone predicted heart disease risk, regardless of other measures including Body Mass Index (BMI) which measures weight to height ratio.
Even though overweight and obesity are well known pre cursors for heart trouble, if most of a persons excess weight is around the abdomen rather than their hips, they are at an increased risk of heart disease and Type 2 diabetes. The risk actually increases when waist size is larger than 35 inches for women and 40 inches for men.
Did you know there are two different types of fats. most fat is subcutaneous fat below the skin. However Abdominal or Visceral fat which lies between and around the organs can churn out harmful substances in your body. These substances can trigger a host of conditions such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol and insulin resistance - all of which contribute to a higher heart disease risk.
Visceral fat can quickly accumulate in those with a sedentary lifestyle. A Duke University study found that those who did not exercise had an average 8.6% increase in visceral fat after eight months. Notably, sedentary women gained less weight than men bur experienced an 11.6% increase in visceral fat versus a 5.7% increase seen in men.
David Ogden
