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May 10th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda WEDNESDAY, May 9 (HealthDay News) — A “spare tire” around the
midsection raises the odds of sudden cardiac death in obese people, a new
study finds.
A larger waist-to-hip ratio matters even more than body-mass index when
it comes to sudden cardiac death risk, said study researcher Dr. Selcuk
Adabag, an associate professor of medicine at the University of Minnesota
in Minneapolis. Body-mass index is a measure of weight relative to height
used to determine normal weight and obesity.
Obesity, a moderate risk factor for sudden cardiac death, and
apple-shaped bodies often go hand in hand.
“The significance of this study is that it shows that abdominal obesity
is an independent risk factor for sudden cardiac death, even after
accounting for factors such as diabetes, hypertension and coronary heart
disease,” said Adabag, who is also a cardiac electrophysiologist at the
Veterans Administration Medical Center in Minneapolis.
Adabag was scheduled to present the findings Wednesday at the annual
meeting of the Heart Rhythm Society in Boston.
Sudden cardiac death is responsible for more than 250,000 deaths in the
United States each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention. It is defined as death that occurs within an hour of initial
symptoms. Besides obesity, risk factors include coronary heart disease and
heart rhythm problems.
For the study, Adabag looked at the records of more than 15,000 people
with an average age of 54 from four U.S. locales who were enrolled in the
Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study. Over 13 years, more than 300 of
the participants experienced sudden cardiac death.
After Adabag took into account age, sex, race, education, smoking
status and family history of heart disease, he found that body-mass index,
waist circumference and waist-to-hip ratio all were linked with sudden
cardiac death.
“I expected there would be some relationship with all [those factors]
measured,” he said.
But when he factored in co-occurring conditions such as diabetes, high
blood pressure, heart failure and a high LDL, or ”bad,” cholesterol,
among other problems, only the elevated waist-to-hip ratio still was
linked with sudden cardiac death.
Although the reason people with apple-shaped bodies have higher risks
than those with pear-shaped bodies isn’t clear-cut, Adabag speculates that
where fat is stored is important for heart risks.
“Fat in the abdomen spews inflammatory substances,” he said.
Inflammation is linked with heart problems.
Dr. Suzanne Steinbaum, a preventive cardiologist and director of Women
and Heart Disease at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, said the
findings are interesting.
“We have an understanding that an elevated waist-to-hip ratio is
associated with conditions like diabetes and high blood pressure,”
Steinbaum said. “But what we never really appreciated before was the
association with sudden cardiac death.”
A waist-to-hip ratio of more than 0.8 for women and 0.95 for men is
considered unhealthy. A person with 35-inch hips and a 35-inch waist, for
instance, would have a ratio of 1, which is undesirable.
How do you improve your waist-to-hip ratio? “The usual way that we
prevent obesity: exercise and diet — a healthier lifestyle,” Adabag
said.
“Exercise is so crucial,” Steinbaum said. Those with a pot belly, she
added, may be eating too many simple carbohydrates, such as those found in
processed sugary foods.
In the United States, two-thirds of adults and one-third of children
reportedly are overweight or obese, according to background information
included in Adabag’s study.
While the study uncovered a link between abdominal fat and heart risks,
it didn’t prove a cause-and-effect relationship.
Data and conclusions presented at meetings should be considered
preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed medical journal.
More information
To learn more about sudden cardiac death, visit the U.S. National Heart, Lung, and Blood
Institute.
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