The National Institutes of Health characterizes coronary heart disease as a narrowing of the arteries supplying blood and oxygen to the heart. Also referred to as coronary artery disease, it develops when these blood vessels become damaged or diseased, which leads to the accumulation of plaque, eventually restricting blood flow to the heart. While a number of factors often contribute to this condition, a high body mass index (BMI) can actually increase your risk.
Body Mass Index
Body mass index gives a numeric value to your body composition, which is usually a good indicator of body fat percentage. It gauges your weight in comparison to your height to help determine whether you're underweight, normal weight, overweight or obese. When your body mass index designates you as obese, which is a value of 30 or more, the American Heart Association warns that this is seen as a major risk factor for coronary heart disease.
Features
If you have a BMI identifying you as obese, you're more likely to develop one or more of the contributing factors to coronary heart disease, according to the American Heart Association. Obesity frequently leads to high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, high triglycerides and Type 2 diabetes, all of which greatly increase your risk of coronary heart disease.
Significance
Your current BMI level isn't the only risk factor for coronary heart disease. A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine indicates that higher BMI during childhood can also increase the risk of coronary heart disease for adults. Children between the ages of 7 and 13 with high BMI are more likely to develop coronary heart disease than children of the same age with a healthy BMI, which is typically 18.5 to 24.9. The risk of coronary heart disease is even greater in boys than girls.
Lifestyle
Since obesity is typically a result of consuming more calories than your body burns, a change in lifestyle can often help lower your body mass index. Reducing your caloric intake, increasing your physical activity or utilizing a combination of both is really the best approach to reducing weight, and thereby decreasing BMI. Watching your intake of trans fat, saturated fat and dietary cholesterol is also beneficial.
Treatment
As you work to lower your BMI with diet and exercise, your doctor may recommend medications to treat or manage coronary heart disease. Beta blockers, statins, fibrates, niacin, ACE inhibitors, calcium channel blockers and nitroglycerin are all used for this purpose, according to the Mayo Clinic. Your health-care provider can determine which medication is best for you.
