Belly up
Your body shape appears to be a much more accurate marker for future heart health than does either your body weight or your BMI (body-mass index).
So says a recent report that attempted to answer the long standing question of whether or not where you carry your fat stores has anything to do with your chances of developing heart disease.
Researchers looked at data that had been collected for the larger Dallas Heart Study. They worked with 2,700 participants between 30 and 65 years old. The participants had completed a general health survey, provided blood and urine samples, and had their weight and BMI measured. In addition, their hips and waistlines were also measured.
Next, the study participants had noninvasive imaging tests done (such as an MRI) to measure their levels of atherosclerosis or an electron-beam-computed tomography (EBCT) to measure calcium deposits in their coronary arteries. These calcium deposits can be a red flag for trouble to come in your heart—even years before the fact.
Calcium deposits in the arteries were found in 583 of the participants. And of those who had an MRI, 976 showed signs of aortic plaque.
The researchers took into account blood pressure, age, cholesterol levels, age of the participants, and medical history, such as the presence of diabetes. What they found was that the shape of the body, specifically, the girth of your belly, was a better indicator of the presence of calcium deposits and arterial plaque than was either weight or BMI measurement.
If your belly is wider than your hips, as determined by what's called a "waist-to-hip ratio (WHR)," you have an increased chance of having calcium deposits. The research group divided the participants into five groups ranging from the highest to the lowest WHRs. Those folks who had the highest WHR had twice the risk of having calcium deposits that those with the smallest WHR did. And as their ratios crept up the scale, so did their relative calcium deposits.
And those who had the highest WHRs were three times more likely to have atherosclerotic plaque than were their lower WHR counterparts.
Having too much abdominal fat has long been thought to be a particularly risky way of carrying excess weight. It's what you hear termed "apple" shaped versus the "pear" shaped, which is weight distributed moreso around your hips. It's not fully understood why this is, but the apple shape leads to greater metabolic changes in the body—changes that can lead to heart disease.
You can stand in front of your mirror and see for yourself if your body shape could be classified as an apple- or pear-style. If you don't already suffer from heart disease, you need to pull out all the stops and head it off now. The best way to trim the girth of your belly is to cut back on portion sizes. If you take a big portion of anything, be sure it's a vegetable. Trade the potato chips in for some real vegetables: Steamed kale or broccoli, a vegetable-loaded stir-fry, or a pot of homemade vegetable soup. These are just some things you can enjoy big enough portions of to feel full but without harming your health.
