A new study has found waist size to be a more significant contributor to heart attack risk than the actual body weight otherwise known as Body Mass Index (BMI). The study clarified that a pear-shaped body that has its fat buildup around the hips is at lesser risk of heart disease than an apple-shaped body that has its weight around the torso region.

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This is against the agelong practice in which a measure of BMI was considered as a more accurate indicator of risk of heart disease, although it is a generally agreed scientific fact that the more overweight a person is, the greater the risk of heart failure. However, the new study is laying more emphasis on the waist size being a more accurate indicator of heart disease than BMI or total body weight and went further to state that, in fact, people having a high BMI is at lower risk of dying from heart ailments. The mysterious phenomenon whereby people with high BMI are found not to be as prone to heart disease rated death has come to be known as "obesity paradox".

This paradox has been explained to result from the fact that BMI is a highly flawed measurement as it does not consider other important parameters such as the location of fat within the individual's body or how muscular the individual is, etc.

"What matters probably the most is the distribution of fat, more than anything else," says the lead researcher, Francisco Lopez-Jimenez, M.D., a cardiologist at the Mayo Clinic, in Rochester, Minnesota. Source

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Body Mass Index (BMI) simplified}

Providing more evidence in support of the shortcomings of BMI as a means of determining heart health, Jean Pierre Despres, Ph.D, the director of research at the Quebec Heart and Lung Institute at Lava University, in Quebec City, has this to say:

"If you measure body mass index, you don't assess body shape, you don't assess body fat distribution. I'm not saying BMI is useless. It's just that we need to go beyond that. BMI is the total cholesterol of lipids: We know that there is good and bad cholesterol, and there is good and bad fat." Nor does BMI distinguish between fat and muscle. Heart patients who lead a sedentary lifestyle may see a drop in BMI as they lose muscle mass. While heart-disease patients who become more active may actually put on weight and raise their BMI because they are adding lean muscle." Source

In the study (which was published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology and involved 200 people with type 2 diabetes but who were not showing any signs of heart disease) the researchers found that people with a larger belly circumference are more likely to have problems with the left ventricles of their hearts than smaller bellied counterparts. The left ventricle is saddled with the responsibility of pumping oxygenated blood to the brain and to other parts of the body.

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Anatomy of heart}

Commenting on the study, Doctor Boaz Rosen of Johns Hopkins University in Maryland said...

“We specifically found that waist circumference appears to be a stronger predictor for left ventricle dysfunction than total body weight or body mass index”. Source

It was noted finally that large waist size of more than 35 inches for women and/or 40 inches for men were 70% more likely to die during duration of the experiment that those with smaller waists size. Again, the likelihood of death become more significant with a combination of a large waist and a high BMI.

Are you at a higher risk of heart attack; what is your waist size?

Having learnt how the size of waist could predispose one to a higher risk of heart issues, I will like us to consider this assignment in order to be out of danger. Or at least, know our status with respect to the foregoing discourse. Measure your waist size and compare it with the below standards to really know your status:

• For men, between 37 and 40 inches is overweight and more than 40 inches is obese

• For women, 31.5-34.6 inches is overweight and more than 34.6 inches is obese

If your waist is not within the healthy range according to the standards stated above, embark on serious exercise to keep the within the healthy range. This is very important. Thank you.
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