There have been many studies showing a correlation between heart attack and hypertension symptoms and being overweight. But, is being overweight — all by itself — directly responsible for an increase in coronary problems?
To find out, Dutch scientists analyzed data from over 20 studies, involving over 300,000 people. Of those, about 18,000 suffered a heart-related problem or died during the study period.
After factoring in age, sex, physical activity, and whether or not the person smoked, the researchers determined that moderately overweight people had a 32 percent increased risk of heart disease and obese people an 81 percent increase compared to participants who weren't overweight.
Now, for the surprising part: After further narrowing the field by factoring in blood pressure and cholesterol levels, moderately overweight and obese people still had an increased risk of heart disease (17 and 49 percent, respectively).
This means that even if an overweight person miraculously has "healthy" blood pressure and cholesterol levels, they still may suffer from heart attack and hypertension symptoms at some point.
"Hence, the present study indicates that adverse effects of overweight on blood pressure and cholesterol levels could account for about 45 percent of the increased risk of coronary heart disease, and that there is still a significantly increased risk of coronary heart disease that is independent of these effects," wrote the study authors.
"This implies that, even under the theoretical scenario that optimal treatment would be available against hypertension and hypercholesterolemia in overweight persons, they would still have an elevated risk of coronary heart disease," the researchers say.
Even more proof of how losing belly fat could save your life.
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