Your risk of dying from heart disease increases in direct proportion to your percentage of body fat. According to the Weight-Control Information Network, a service of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, most adults in the U.S. are heading toward or are already at a high risk of developing obesity-related heart disease. Obesity affects heart health in more ways than you may realize and is a direct cause of many unnecessary deaths each year.
Obesity Facts
You fit the definition of overweight if your body fat percentage is at or above 25 percent of your total weight and obese when this percentage reaches or exceeds 30 percent. As of 2008, the NIDDK estimates that about 34.2 percent of the U.S. adult population are overweight and another 33.8 percent are obese, leaving less than one-third of the population at a healthy weight. Of the 162,000 unnecessary deaths that occur each year because of obesity, the NIDDK states that about 112,000 directly relate to heart disease.
Factors
As obesity relates to heart health, weight gain during the adolescent years and the amount of visceral body fat increase the likelihood you will develop heart disease. In general, the younger you are and the longer you remain obese, the greater the risk to your heart health. Childhood obesity carries with it not only the probability that you will remain obese as an adult, but also sets the stage for developing conditions such as elevated cholesterol and blood pressure that indirectly affect heart health. Visceral body fat, a type of biologically-active fat that surrounds internal body organs, is more prevalent in obesity and is a major contributor to the metabolic syndrome.
Coronary Heart Disease
Five indirect effects of obesity, including visceral fat, a high triglyceride or blood fat level, low HDL or good cholesterol levels, high blood pressure and elevated blood sugar levels, together comprise the metabolic syndrome. While you may not display all these effects, the more you do present, the greater your chance of suffering heart damage or a heart attack due to coronary heart disease. This disease occurs when biochemical or metabolic processes in your body cause plaque buildup, narrowing of heart arteries and reduced blood flow to the heart. According to the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, a division of the National Institutes of Health, about 25 percent of the U.S. adult population currently display symptoms of metabolic syndrome.
Congestive Heart Failure
Obesity places extra pressure on your heart muscle, causing it to work harder to pump blood. This, in turn, causes the left ventricle in your heart to enlarge, changes stroke volume and cardiac output, changes the pattern of the relaxation portion of your heartbeat and can result in congestive heart failure and sudden death. Damage to the left ventricle is more severe, according to the American Heart Association, when high blood pressure is also present because it also increases heart wall stress, but can occur even in its absence.
References
- Weight-Control Information Network/National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases: Statistics Related to Overweight and Obesity
- American Heart Association: Obesity: Impact on Cardiovascular Disease
- "Critical Pathways in Cardiology"; Cardiovascular Disease is Under the Influence of Excess Visceral Fat; JP Despres; June 2007
- National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute/National Institutes of Health: Metabolic Syndrome
- "Circulation"; Obesity and Heart Disease: A Statement for Healthcare Professionals From the Nutrition Committee, American Heart Association; Dr. Robert H. Eckel; 1997
