Home Health Hidden fat in muscles leads to increased risk of dying from heart attacks or heart failure regardless of body weight, study reveals

Hidden fat in muscles leads to increased risk of dying from heart attacks or heart failure regardless of body weight, study reveals

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Hidden fat in muscles increases risk of dying from heart attack, study finds

Hidden fat in muscles, similar to the marbling in beef, leads to a higher risk of dying from heart attacks or heart failure, regardless of body weight, according to a study.

While ‘fatty marbling’, or flecks of fat running through meat, is valued commercially in cattle, little is known about this type of body fat in humans and its impact on health.

Now, experts have discovered that it could be linked to inflammation and insulin resistance, which can damage the blood vessels surrounding the heart.

And the new findings add evidence that simply measuring BMI or waist circumference is not enough to assess the risk of heart health problems, the researchers warned.

A team at Brigham and Woman’s Hospital in Boston analyzed data from 669 people evaluated for chest pain or shortness of breath.

The group had scans to evaluate their heart function, and the researchers also used CT scans to analyze body composition, measuring the amounts and location of fat and muscle in sections of their torso.

To determine the amount of fat stored in the muscles, the team calculated the ratio of intermuscular fat to total muscle plus fat using a measure they called fatty muscle fraction.

The patients were followed for about six years, and scientists recorded whether any died or were hospitalized for a heart attack or heart failure.

Hidden fat in muscles increases risk of dying from heart attack, study finds

Experts have discovered that it could be related to inflammation and insulin resistance, which can damage the blood vessels surrounding the heart.

Experts have discovered that it could be related to inflammation and insulin resistance, which can damage the blood vessels surrounding the heart.

Although the

While ‘fatty marbling’, or flecks of fat running through meat, is valued commercially in cattle, little is known about this type of body fat in humans.

Their findings revealed that people with higher amounts of fat stored in their muscles were more likely to suffer damage to the small blood vessels that serve the heart and were more likely to die or be hospitalized with heart disease.

For every 1 percent increase in the proportion of fatty muscle fraction, there was a 2 percent increase in the risk of damage to the heart’s small blood vessels and a 7 percent increase in the risk of developing serious heart disease. .

They found that this was regardless of BMI.

Professor Vivianay Taqueti, lead author of the study, said fat stores in the muscles may be contributing to inflammation and insulin resistance.

“In turn, these chronic insults can cause damage to blood vessels, including those that supply the heart, and to the heart muscle itself,” he added.

“Knowing that intermuscular fat increases the risk of heart disease gives us another way to identify people who are at high risk, regardless of their body mass index.”

Professor Taqueti said it is not yet known how to reduce the risk for people with fatty muscles.

“For example, we don’t know how treatments, such as new weight-loss therapies, affect muscle fat relative to fat in other parts of the body, lean tissue and, ultimately, the heart,” he said. .

‘Obesity is now one of the biggest global threats to cardiovascular health, yet body mass index – our main parameter for defining obesity and intervention thresholds – remains a controversial and flawed marker of cardiovascular prognosis.

“This is especially true in women, where a high body mass index may reflect more ‘benign’ types of fat.”

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