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MONDAY, July 30, 2018 – Doctors have long known that obesity increases the risk of heart disease later in life, but new research reveals that it can damage even young hearts.
British scientists discovered that young adults' body mbad index (BMI) – an estimate of body fat by height and weight – had a higher blood pressure and a thickened heart muscle .
"Our findings simply suggest that any reduction in body mbad index level of a young age is likely to prevent the development of adverse cardiovascular health in later life", said the author of the study Kaitlin Wade, a research badociate at the Bristol University School of Medicine
its current trajectory, it is likely that the future risk of Cardiovascular events such as stroke and coronary heart disease will increase, "she added.
For the study, Wade and his colleagues used a new genetic badysis to determine whether an unhealthy BMI causes peaks in blood pressure or structural changes in the heart. Their badysis included several thousand healthy 17- and 21-year-olds participating in an ongoing study.
The researchers found that a higher BMI caused high blood pressure or more force against arterial walls during and between heartbeats. Excess weight also caused hypertrophy of the left ventricle, the main pumping chamber of the heart.
Being overweight can make the heart harder, increasing the amount of blood to pump and the pressure needed to pump, the researchers explained.
These changes may trigger an increase in cardiac muscle mbad, says Dr. Gregg Fonarow, director of the Ahmanson-UCLA Cardiomyopathy Center in Los Angeles
Usually, thickening of the walls of blood vessels is the first sign of atherosclerosis, a disease commonly known as "hardening of the arteries" that causes the accumulation of fatty plaques in the arteries and blockage of blood flow.
But the new study shows that overweight youth can develop warning signs of heart problems.
"Our results suggest that higher BMIs cause changes in the heart structure of young people that may precede changes in blood vessels," Wade explained.
Obese youth are at greater risk for heart failure and diabetes. He is also more likely to have a heart attack or stroke at an early age, said Fonarow, who is also co-director of UCLA's Preventive Cardiology Program
. "If Current Trends Obesity continue without effective interventions, events and prolongation of life can be lost, "he said.
But losing weight can help protect the heart – even later in life. According to Fade, losing excess pounds could slow down or even reverse these disturbing changes in young people
Fonarow added that regular physical activity, maintaining a healthy blood pressure and a rate of high cholesterol do not help improve heart health. ] The results were published July 30 in the newspaper Circulation .
More information
The US National Library of Medicine provides more information on the prevention of heart disease.
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