XML Feed for RxPG News   Add RxPG News Headlines to My Yahoo!   Javascript Syndication for RxPG News

Research Health World General
 
  Home
 
   Health
 Aging
 Asian Health
 Events
 Fitness
 Food & Nutrition
 Happiness
 Men's Health
 Mental Health
 Occupational Health
 Parenting
 Public Health
 Sleep Hygiene
 Women's Health
 
   Healthcare
 Africa
 Australia
 Canada Healthcare
 China Healthcare
 India Healthcare
 New Zealand
 South Africa
 UK
 USA
 World Healthcare
 
   Latest Research
 Aging
 Alternative Medicine
 Anaethesia
 Biochemistry
 Biotechnology
 Cancer
 Cardiology
 Clinical Trials
 Cytology
 Dental
 Dermatology
 Embryology
 Endocrinology
 ENT
 Environment
 Epidemiology
 Gastroenterology
 Genetics
 Gynaecology
 Haematology
 Immunology
 Infectious Diseases
 Medicine
 Metabolism
 Microbiology
 Musculoskeletal
 Nephrology
 Neurosciences
 Obstetrics
 Ophthalmology
 Orthopedics
 Paediatrics
 Pathology
 Pharmacology
 Physiology
 Physiotherapy
 Psychiatry
 Radiology
 Rheumatology
 Sports Medicine
 Surgery
 Toxicology
 Urology
 
   Medical News
 Awards & Prizes
 Epidemics
 Launch
 Opinion
 Professionals
 
   Special Topics
 Ethics
 Euthanasia
 Evolution
 Feature
 Odd Medical News
 Climate
Search

Last Updated: Nov 18, 2006 - 1:55:25 PM

Fitness Channel
subscribe to Fitness newsletter

Health : Fitness

   DISCUSS   |   EMAIL   |   PRINT
Bulging waistline could indicate how your heart is
Mar 19, 2006 - 8:19:00 PM, Reviewed by: Dr. Priya Saxena

"After 20 years of research we've learned that it's not how fat you are that determines your risk to obesity, but where the excess fat is located,"

 
Excess fat around the waist is harmful and could be an indicator of the state of your heart, say scientists in a new study of how body weight affects the heart.

It has long been known that the more overweight a person is the higher the risk is of having a heart attack. Traditionally this risk is measured using the body mass index, which involves dividing weight by height.

But in the first large-scale study of its kind, Canadian scientists who analysed the waist sizes of 168,000 men and women worldwide say excess fat around the middle is more harmful than weight gain on the legs and hips, reported the online edition of Daily Mail.

This is because fat cells around the stomach are the most dangerous of all, pumping out chemicals that can damage the insulin system, they said.

The scientists found that in the men studied, the risk of heart disease increased by between 21 and 40 percent for every five-and-a-half inches (14 cm) extra added to their waist size.

For women, the same increase in heart disease risk occurred for every five-and-a-three fourth inches (14.9 cm) growth in waistline.

The risk was found to be the same across the populations of the 63 countries studied, despite the wide variance in waist sizes.

"After 20 years of research we've learned that it's not how fat you are that determines your risk to obesity, but where the excess fat is located," Jean-Pierre Despres, director of cardiology research at University Laval in Quebec, said.

"Your risk of having a heart attack has nothing to do with your body mass index because it does not take into account the distribution of fat on the body.

"A bulging belly is a better indicator of heart disease than overall body mass," the scientist said.
 

- Indo-Asian News Service
 

 
Subscribe to Fitness Newsletter
E-mail Address:

 



Related Fitness News


For any corrections of factual information, to contact the editors or to send any medical news or health news press releases, use feedback form

Top of Page

 

© Copyright 2004 onwards by RxPG Medical Solutions Private Limited
Contact Us