Beware! Pot Bellies Point to Cardiac Problems

Pot belly is not a sign of affluence.  We now know that. It’s sheer decadence in the wrong things which includes poor eating habits, too much alcohol, sedentary lifestyle, and lack of exercise.  Some people try to defend pot belly and tell you ‘it’s generic.  It runs in the family, it shows am not anorexic or malnourished and so on’. Tell you what? Pot belly can be a medical problem. Pot belly now points to cardiac problems, not just for the men but also including women.

 ’Get rid of the protruding belly, not just the pounds’ is the heart-healthy advice from a  research that finds that  ‘pot’ bellies  may be a big indicator of future heart disease.  Among a relatively young people, there is a solid link between the apple shape potbelly and the build-up of plaque in the arteries, researchers found. This means that in ten to fifteen years down the line with those young people, their pot bellies, if left unchecked, can lead to major cardiac problems such as a heart attack, which kills millions of people each year, making it a leading killer of both men and women.

Though cardiovascular disease has long been associated with obesity, the question now is whether there are some forms of overweight worse than others? There are different ways of calculating obesity in order to identify signs of heart disease. The first is in the form of  presence of atherosclerosis, a systemic thickening and calcification of artery blood vessel walls due to a build-up of calcium and/or plaque composed of cholesterol and triglyceride fats – simply referred to as ‘hardening of arteries.  The second is in the form of calculating weight and body mass index (BMI), a popular used obesity measurement based on weight-to-height ratios and waist and hip circumference.

Body shape became a better indicator of either calcium or plaque presence than either simple weight or BMI numbers, after considering differences in blood pressure, diabetes, age, smoking, or cholesterol status. In addition, the larger the belly in relation to the hips, known as the waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), the greater the chances of arterial calcium in the heart. You’re still at risk even if your belt buckled somewhere between flat and fat, because any incremental increases in waist-to-hip-ratio turned into little but gradual increases in calcium deposits. People with the biggest waist-to-hip ratios are three times likely to have atherosclerotic plaque as those in the smallest waist-to-hip group, according to the research.

While higher BMI and waist circumference readings are linked to signs of atherosclerosis, WHR was discovered to be a stronger indicator of either calcium or plaque build-up. Further shortcomings of BMI, in particular, is that it doesn’t measure body composition, since it fails to account for the fact that abdominal fat, unlike fat around the hips, may be less healthy.  But the truth is that abdominal fat seems to trigger a chain of inflammatory activities that turn into harmful metabolic changes, plaque build-up and, eventually, heart disease.

But the cheering news for patients is that even little improvements in your body shape are going to be beneficial with the goal of having a small waist comparable to your hips without starving yourself obviously. It’s simple really because you can work on it by including regular exercise into everyday living. It doesn’t have to be competitive, just some regular exercise to get you sweating good.  It’s also about getting into the habit of eating healthily and developing good eating habits which revolves around moderation. It’s not about crash diets. It’s about learning portion control. The fact remains that WHR is refining heart disease screening methods. The focus is now on central-weight distribution rather than weight alone as a more precise way to identify at-risk patients in need of aggressive treatment and follow-up. It’s a valuable step forward in this sense. So while watching your weight, be conscious about the size of your waist to your hips.

Photo Credit: Creative Commons.