It’s time to lose that cellulite hanging around your belly, folks! Researchers confirm that people with excessive abdominal fat show higher chances of get cancer or heart disease as compared to those who carry their fat in other areas on body. People who have a similar Body Mass Index may be safer!!
The study of abdominal fat
The pot bellied people face higher health risks as they show more chances of developing heart problems and cancer as compared to people who have fat in other areas of the body says a new study.
People with excess body weight face higher disease and death risk in comparison with individuals having a similar body mass index (BMI). It’s the ectopic fat that makes a difference. In this study, the location of the fat i.e. the fat that was in the abdominal area ,showed that this was the reason for the higher and lower health risk factor.
The study focused to find a link between the exact location of the fat collected and the risk factors for cancer and heart problems. The study highlights, why people who have similar body mass indexes and different body types faced different types of health problems because of obesity.
Details of the follow up study
A sample of about 3,086 participants, having an average age 50 years, and wherein half of them were women, from the Framingham Heart Study, were roped in for a follow up study that was spaced over 7 years. The researchers assessed the fat collected in the belly area, the heart tissue and the deposit around the aortic artery. The patients had to undergo a CT scan in order to mark the areas where the fat has collected.
During the 7 year period, while keeping the standard risk factors in mind, the researchers assessed the patients for, heart diseases, and cancer and death risk. The data reported that there were about 90 people with cardiovascular problems, nearly 141 cancer cases were diagnosed, and 71 deaths recorded.
The abdominal fat typically represents the accumulated fat deposited around the internal organs. This abdominal fat was associated with obesity, incidents of heart diseases and cancer after the adjustment of the clinical risk factors.
This study was focused towards the concerning problems raised by the increasing obesity levels in the global population. Obesity can be compared to an epidemic spread worldwide and it is gravely important to identify the obese people who fall in the high-risk category says Kathryn A. Britton, MD, MPH, lead author of the study and an instructor of medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.
Further knowledge in this field can help in finding therapeutic and preventive measures for such people she stated.
This online study has been published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
