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New York, November 10 (IANS): Researchers, including one of Indian descent, found that reduced body fat and waist size are linked to a lower risk of heart failure in patients with type 2 diabetes.
The study, published in the journal Circulation, suggests that all weight loss is not the same when it comes to mitigating the risk of heart disease.
“Being overweight and obese are strong risk factors for both type 2 diabetes and heart disease, and patients are often advised to lose weight to reduce the likelihood of developing both conditions,” said the study’s author. Ambarish Pandey from UT Southwestern Medical Center in the United States.
Understanding the relationship between heart disease and body composition proved particularly challenging, Pandey explains, because there was no simple and inexpensive way to assess body composition.
The gold standard for determining fat mass and lean mass is measuring it directly with tools such as dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA), a scan that is cumbersome, expensive, and exposes patients to radiation.
For the study, the research team investigated the effects of an intensive lifestyle intervention focused on weight loss and physical activity or diabetes support and education in more than 5,000 overweight or obese adults with diabetes. type 2.
The study collected information on the volunteers’ weight, body composition and waist circumference at baseline and again one and four years later. He also monitored the incidence of heart failure in this group over a 12-year period.
Among the 5,103 participants, 257 developed heart failure during the follow-up period.
The researchers found that the more these volunteers lowered their fat mass and waist circumference, the lower their chances of developing heart failure.
Only a 10% reduction in fat mass led to a 22% lower risk of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction and a 24% lower risk of heart failure with reduced ejection fraction, two subtypes of this condition.
A decrease in waist circumference significantly reduced the risk of heart failure with preserved injection fraction but not heart failure with reduced ejection fraction. However, a decline in lean body mass did not change the risk of heart failure at all.
“Our study suggests that simply losing weight is not enough. You may need to prioritize fat loss to truly reduce your risk of heart failure,” the study authors wrote.
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