We may have suspected it for some time, but, now, there’s hard scientific evidence to support the notion that large waist and hip size correlates directly with a higher risk of hart attack – particularly in women. And it appears to be a better indicator of potential cardiac danger than obesity by itself…
Cruisin’ for a cardiac catastrophe? Know the signs and control your weight!
Forty percent of American women age 20 and older and 35 percent
of men were considered obese in a 2013-14 survey.
The study in question took in half a million UK adults aged 40-69 and was brought together by Dr. Sanne Peters, Research Fellow in Epidemiology at the George Institute for Global Health at the University of Oxford.
“Our findings support the notion that having proportionally more fat around the abdomen (a characteristic of the apple shape) appears to be more hazardous than more visceral fat which is generally stored around the hips (i.e., the pear shape).”
The study suggests that the differences in the quantity and distribution of fat tissue not only results in differences in body shape between women and men, but may also have differential implications for the risk of heart attack in later life.
According to statistics in the AHA’s 2018 Statistical Update, 40 percent of American women age 20 and older and 35 percent of men were considered obese in 2013-14 national surveys. Being obese puts you at a higher risk for health problems such as heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, diabetes and certain cancers.
Now you know. What you do with this newfound wisdom is up to you!
~ Maggie J.