A new study published in journalBMC Medicine found that gaining weight increases ones risk of coronary heart disease just as much as getting older.
Researchers followed 1.2 million women for about 10 years. They found that every 5-unit increase in BMI increased incidence of CHD by 23 percent. This is equivalent to the risk incurred from aging 2.5 years. For obese women BMI = 34 risk increased to one in six.
Dr. Dexter Canoy from the University of Oxford and lead author of the study says, The risk of developing CHD increases even with small incremental increases in BMI, and this is seen not only in the heaviest, but also in women who are not usually considered obese. Small changes in BMI, together with leading a healthy lifestyle ¦could potentially prevent the occurrence of CHD for a large number of people in the population.
ACSH s Dr. Gilbert Ross found this study illuminating: We used to assume that excess weight was a significant risk factor for heart disease. But some years ago, a few studies failed to find BMI as an independent factor for CAD. Now this very large, (although observational) study lends strong support to the detrimental impact of obesity on coronary risk.
