|
|
(HealthNewsDigest.com) – It’s been known for a while that a spare tire around the midsection is more of a risk for cardiac-health problems than a flatter stomach. Now researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center may have discovered why.
Dr. Aslan Turer, an interventional cardiologist at UT Southwestern, followed 900 Dallas individuals for seven years. He and his colleagues used abdominal magnetic resonance imaging (MRIs) to assess abdominal fat at the start of the study. Individuals with high levels of fat in the abdominal cavity and around their abdominal organs were far more likely to develop high blood pressure, during the course of the study than individuals with lower amounts of this abdominal fat, irrespective of their overall amount of body fat.
The researchers hypothesize that “retroperitoneal fat” interferes with kidney function.
“Retroperitoneal fat is fat around the kidneys and adrenal glands, which hypothetically could be involved with the pathogenesis of hypertension, since these organs regulate the blood pressure,” Dr. Turer explained.
“Perhaps more important than how much weight a person gains, is where the fat is stored. Fat around the kidneys may be a particularly bad actor,” Dr. Turer said.
You don’t need to have an MRI to assess your abdominal fat. Simply take out a tape measure. Place the tape measure just above your hip bone and wrap the tape measure around your body. Breathe out and measure.
If your waist circumference measured just above the top of the hip bone is more than 35 inches for a woman or more than 40 inches for a man, you need to be concerned about your heart-attack risk, according to the National Institutes of Health. Losing as little as 5 to 10 percent of your body weight can make a difference.
###
For advertising/promotioncall Mike McCurdy at 877-634-9180 or email at [email protected]. We have over 7,000 journalists who are subscribers.