Waist size predicts better than weight died of heart disease

Waist provides a much more accurate way to predict the chances of heart patient dying at an early age of a heart attack.A body high mass index is associated with a lower risk of dying from a disease of heart patients with a large waist circumference were 70 percent more likely to die gene plays a role "very hard" to find out if a person gains weight around the waist

Physicians know long that obesity increases the risk of heart disease, but in recent years, the image grew more complicated.

Several studies have shown that a body high mass index is associated with a lower risk of dying from heart disease and other chronic diseases - a mysterious phenomenon that came to be known as the "paradox of obesity". (Body mass index, or BMI, is a ratio of height to weight used to define obesity).

According to a new analysis in the journal of the American College of Cardiology, the paradox seems to be explained by the simple fact that BMI is a very imperfect measure of cardiac risk. Waist provides a much more accurate way to predict the chances of heart patient dying at an early age of a heart attack or other causes, the study found.

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As in previous studies, a high BMI has been associated with a lower risk of death. But the researchers found that patients with a high ratio of the circumference of the hip size or a large waist circumference - greater than 35 inches for women or 40 inches for men - were more likely to die during the study period than those with the smallest size of 70%. The combination of a large size and a high BMI increased the risk of death even more.

"Probably what counts more than the distribution of fat, more than any other," says principal investigator, Francisco Lopez-Jimenez, M.D., cardiologist at the clinic of Mayo, in Rochester, Minnesota.

The new study provides evidence more than gaps BMI in the assessment of cardiac risk, explains Jean-Pierre Després, Ph.d., Director of research at the heart of Quebec and Lung Institute at Laval University, Quebec.

"If you measure the body mass index, you do not assess the shape of the body, you assess the distribution of body fat," explains Després, who wrote an editorial accompanying the study. "" "". I am not saying that BMI is unnecessary. It's just that we must go further. BMI is total cholesterol of lipids: we know that there are good and bad cholesterol and it is good and bad fat. ?

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Neither BMI does distinguish between FAT and muscle, Després adds. Heart patients who lead a sedentary lifestyle may see decreased BMI they lose muscle mass, he explained, while heart disease to become more active patients actually can make weight and raise their BMI because they add lean muscle.

The findings also add fuel the debate about the type of body and the risk of developing heart disease. Several studies have suggested that people with an Apple shaped body which accumulate fat in their bellies are more likely to develop of heart disease than their counterparts in the form of PEAR, but that theory has been challenged by recent research.

Lopez-Jimenez and colleagues analyzed data from nearly 16 000 cardiac patients who participated in one of the previously made four studies or program the Mayo of cardiovascular rehabilitation clinic. More than a third of the patients died during the studies, which ranged in length from six months to more than seven years.

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A high BMI was associated with a lower risk of 35 per cent of deaths, but with a large size with a high BMI almost doubled the risk of death, researchers have discovered. (Zero in waist, they controlled for age, hypertension, diabetes and other risk factors for heart disease.)

Heart patients even bodies in the form of Apple and BMI in the normal range had an increased risk of dying earlier, which led the House of cardiac patients of normal weight may need to lose some weight in their belly tooDesprés, said. "That is why it is so important for clinical cardiologists measure waist.".

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Why belly fat is bad? It tends to be a sign of visceral fat, or fat which brings together around the organs of the abdomen, the study notes. This fat seems to encourage resistance to insulin and unhealthy cholesterol numbers and can also stimulate inflammation.

Genetics plays a role "very strong" to find out if a person gains weight around the waist, said Després. He estimated that about 30% of the population has this tendency to put on fat in these "undesirable sites."Copyright Health Magazine 2010