Heart Benefits of Lifelong Healthy Weight

A number of previous studies suggest that excess body fat raises a person’s risk of diseases ranging from type-2 diabetes to hypertension. John Deanfield from University College London (United Kingdom), and colleagues analyzed data on the majority of living subjects residing locally, enrolled in The National Survey of Health and Development Study, which originally involved 5.362 singleton births of married parents in England, Scotland, and Wales, during 1 week in March 1946.  The data revealed that the longer the exposure to excess body fat (adiposity) in adulthood the greater the cardiovascular-related problems in later life, including increased thickness of the carotid artery walls, raised systolic blood pressure, and increased risk of diabetes.  Importantly, the findings also indicate that adults who drop a BMI category—from obese to overweight, or from overweight to normal—at any time during adult life, even if they regain weight, can reduce these cardiovascular manifestations. The study authors urge that: “weight loss, at any age in adulthood, is worthwhile because it might result in long-term cardiovascular benefit.”