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FeedBelly Up to the Truth
The link between stroke risk and your expanding waistline.
(page 1 of 3)
Want to gauge your chances of having a stroke? Don’t hop on the scale or check your cholesterol—get out the tape measure. Researchers at the National Institute of Health (NIH) found that women with a waist larger than 34.6 inches were three times as likely to die of vascular disease. (NIH sets the healthy waist size for men at 40 inches.)
No other risk factors—smoking, high blood sugar, high cholesterol or obesity—are as potentially deadly as belly fat. It isn’t how much you weigh that counts; it’s where you carry the excess fat on your body.
“The most dangerous weight gain is around the middle—looking more like an apple than a pear,” says cardiologist Dr. Kelly Spratt of Penn Health for Women in Radnor and Philadelphia. “Belly fat secretes protein and hormones, which cause a build up of plaque in the arteries. Plaque may eventually result in the blockage of blood flow. A stroke occurs when the blockage is in the brain. However, belly fat increases the risk for all vascular disease—including heart attacks—and it’s also a precursor of diabetes.”
More than 70,000 Americans will have a stroke this year. Most will survive, but the majority will require extensive rehabilitation. They’ll suffer paralysis, lose the ability to speak, or experience numbness in parts of their bodies. Many people, however, won’t even know they’ve had a stroke if their blood flow returns to normal within 24 hours. It’s called a TIA, or mini-stroke, and people who’ve had one are at a much greater risk of having a full-blown stroke.
If you’re loath to take the tape-measure test, you’re not alone. Women’s waistlines have increased 2 inches in the last decade. The NIH study looked at 44,600 females aged 40-65 for 16 years. It concluded that, when it comes to stroke, the canary in the mine shaft is the waist-hip circumference ratio. To calculate your ratio, divide your waist measurement by your hip measurement. The ideal waist-hip ratio is less than .88.
“Even a small amount of excess belly fat is a concern,” says Spratt, adding, “Liposuction won’t help. It removes superficial fat but not the fat in your organs.”
Spratt sees the problem every day in her practice. “Thirty to 50 percent of my patients have excess belly fat.”
The problem is age-related. “As you get older, you get heavier,” she says. “Your metabolism slows down, and you eat the same calories, but are less active, perhaps due to arthritis pain.”
With national obesity climbing to 30 percent, it’s no coincidence that one of the leading fashion trends mimics maternity wear. Loose-fitting tops that go almost to the knees, and balloon-shaped dresses, are all the rage. You diet. You exercise. But you haven’t tucked your shirt inside your jeans for five years. What’s a gal to do? Consider a hospital-based weight management program.
Reader Comments:
dr. kelly spratt has wonderful people skills---to say the very least she's perfect--an absolute doll and belongs on the main line and maybe jumbing horses--but she's a do and not an md is she really a docotor--tell yourself would you rather see a doctor MD or a DO?