Body fat Location Predicts Heart Attack

(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- The location of body fat helps predict heart attack risk for elderly women, as opposed to total body fat. Researchers from the Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, N.C., found: "In the over-70 group, overall obesity did not predict heart attack risk. It didn't matter how much fat the older woman had -- what mattered was where the fat was stored."

Researchers discovered the most predictive heart attack risk factor is intra-abdominal fat, which is fat stored in and around the internal organs. They say: "People with higher levels of intra-abdominal fat tend to be apple-shaped rather than pear-shaped. As we age, fat gets stored in the abdomen more than anywhere else, which isn't good because it's now associated with heart attacks. The best way to lose that fat is to lose overall body fat through exercise and diet."

At the beginning of the study, researchers measured the total body fat and fat distribution of healthy men and women in their 70s. Participants provided medical updates to researchers twice a year for nearly five years.

Researchers say, "Women who had a heart attack during the course of the study had approximately 27-percent more intra-abdominal fat at the start of the study. This risk factor was independent of total amount of body fat, diabetes, blood pressure, and blood lipid levels."

Intra-abdominal fat, however, was not a predictor for men. Nor were any other fat measures. Researchers theorize the reason is that men with high fat levels tend to have heart disease at a younger age and therefore were not eligible for the study. Lead researcher Barbara J. Nicklas, Ph.D., adds, "I wouldn't be surprised if we did a study of men in their 50s and women in their 60s in which we would see abdominal fat as a strong risk factor for a future heart attack."

Researchers conclude early screening of heart disease could result from knowing more about intra-abdominal fat as a risk factor.

SOURCE: American Journal of Epidemiology, 2004;160:741-749