Body Fat Is Linked To Heart Disease!

Body mass index (BMI) has been used for decades to determine if a person is overweight or obese, which is linked to development of many chronic diseases including diabetes, heart disease, hypertension and stroke. BMI is calculated by dividing the weight in kilos by the square of height in meters.

People with normal BMI are usually assumed to be healthy though it might not be true. A person with a normal BMI does not necessarily mean that their body’s ability to process fat and sugar is normal. As indicated by some previous research, people with healthy weight might still carry around too much fat.

The latest study by researchers from Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in the United States found new evidence that suggested older adults with a healthy weight but high percentage of body fat were at higher risk of heart disease and death.

Data of a total of 1,528 people who were 70 years old on average and had a normal BMI were analyzed. It was found that 1 in 5 men and nearly 1 in 3 women had a body fat percentage above what is considered healthy. Excess body fat has been associated with a higher risk of diabetes, hypertension and heart disease.

Meanwhile, a total of 902 of the participants were found dead during the following 13 years, including 419 who died of cardiovascular disease. There were, however, no differences in how often people with high and normal body fat levels died of any cause. High body fat was defined as levels above 25 percent for men and above 35 percent among women.

In the study, women with excess body fat had a 57 percent higher chance of dying from heart disease within 11 years of their assessments than women with a healthy amount of body fat. On the other hand, men with excess body fat were at greater risk of heart-related death after the 11-year mark.

Researchers also found participants with highest body fat were most likely to have hypertension and metabolic syndrome, a cluster of risk factors that will lead to heart disease and diabetes eventually. The findings were published on November 15, 2013 in ‘The American Journal Of Cardiology’. 

Despite of the criticism, BMI has still been used by doctors because it is easy, practical and affordable. There are more high-tech options available for measuring body fat. For instance, a dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry scan that can measure fat levels inside the body. But it costs about US$300, which makes it currently clinically impractical.

Inactive Kids Are At Risk of Heart Disease As Teens!

Childhood obesity has been a major issue facing governments around the world. This is because obese kids can develop heart disease, diabetes, hypertension (high blood pressure), and even some types of cancer later in their life. The amount of medical expenses thus incurred is expected to be huge and this surely will create great pressure on the authorities concerned.

Most health experts have attributed such epidemic to unhealthy diet and sedentary lifestyle. A recent finding published on April 4, 2008 in the British journal Dynamic Medicine pointed out that young children who have sedentary lifestyles are up to 6 times more likely to be at serious risk of heart disease later in life, than their peers who are active. Meanwhile, the cluster of symptoms reflecting heart trouble, known as metabolic syndrome, could just show up as early as at the teen years.

In the study, key health indicators like blood pressure, body mass, cholesterol levels, height, percentage of body fat were measured for about 400 kids between 7 and 10 by the researchers from the University of North Carolina. Their frequency and duration of physical exercise were also monitored.

7 years later, these children were reexamined as teenagers and it was found that there was nearly 5 percent of the adolescents had 3 or more of core symptoms of metabolic syndrome.

Such result more or less confirmed the previous research that showed 4 to 9 percent of adolescents in the United States have some combination of glucose intolerance, hypertension, obesity and a worrying cholesterol count.

The study also found that adolescents with the syndrome were 6 times more likely to have low aerobic fitness as children, and 5 times more likely to have low levels of physical activity when the study began. These kids at best brisk walked, rode a bike or performed some equivalent activity for not more than 20 minutes a day.

This was indeed very much lower than that recommended by the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that children should exert themselves at this level for at least an hour per day.

It is undeniable that children today have adopted a very sedentary life and are prone to overweight or even obesity. The new findings have already highlighted the link between sedentary life and heart disease. As such, efforts to ensure kids to increase exercise in their childhood as early as possible are inevitable. It is better to keep fit now rather than suffer the health consequences later in life.