By: Diana Barnes-Brown for Fibroids1In the past two decades, medical, media and societal perspectives on obesity have sent a flurry of mixed messages regarding how acceptable – or how deadly – extra weight can be. Sitcoms and movies often showcase characters who are overweight, self-possessed, and completely happy with their state, meanwhile the diet industry tells women that every pound lost should be a source of pride. Still, others simply decry America’s obsession with fast food and processed foods.
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Tips for Heart Health
In addition to keeping weight at healthy levels and getting regular exercise, here are some things you can do to decrease your heart risk factors:
Eat a low-fat, high-fiber diet and try to get protein from sources that don’t include red meat or very rich dairy products.
If you smoke, quit.
Take steps to treat high blood pressure, including cutting down on salt and caffeine.
If you have diabetes, take steps to treat it.
Drink alcohol in moderation.
Work to eliminate stress from your life.
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While only a handful of states participated in national obesity data collection efforts before 1991, as soon as statistics were recorded it became clear that obesity was a huge and growing problem. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that in 1991, only four states had obesity rates of 15 to 19 percent, and no states reached levels at, or over 20 percent. By 2004, seven states had obesity rates of 15 to 19 percent while 33 states had jumped into the 20 to 24 percent bracket and nine states had rates of 25 percent or more.In a country where heart disease is the leading cause of death for women, where mixed messages abound and where the battle with obesity is clearly not going well, it’s even more important that women understand the relationship between weight, fitness and heart health.
Dr. Samia Mora and fellow researchers from the Center for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention at Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital recently published their research on the effects of low physical activity and being overweight on women’s heart health. They found that even in women who are otherwise healthy, maintaining healthy levels of “fitness and fatness” are crucial for maintaining a healthy heart.
For women who hope to prevent heart disease and heart attack, the recommendation is 30 minutes of activity such as walking or jogging on most days of the week, and keeping body weight below the range of obesity, reported Mora.
To conduct the study, Mora and colleagues looked at body weight, physical activity levels, and physiological cardiac risk factors called biomarkers – physical signs or marks of potential or likely un-wellness – in 27,158 women with no known health complaints. A total of 11 lipid and inflammatory biomarkers were measured in the study. In women with lower levels of physical activity or higher levels of body weight, researchers found adverse levels of most of the biomarkers they measured.
Inactive and overweight women had elevated levels of a C-reactive protein, a potentially dangerous blood protein that appears when there is ongoing inflammation in the body, as well as higher levels of LDL cholesterol (unhealthy cholesterol) and lower levels of HDL cholesterol (healthy cholesterol).
In addition, overweight or obese women showed from two- to 10-fold increases in risk factors for heart attack and stroke. Women who were physically inactive, whether they were of normal weight or obese, had from five to 50 percent elevation in the biomarkers measured. High body weight seemed to have a greater influence on the development of cardiovascular dangers, but physical activity did seem to have a beneficial effect on biomarker levels, regardless of women’s weight categories.
Currently over half of the people in the U.S. fail to keep up with the minimum recommendations for physical activity, and about 65 percent are overweight or obese. Being overweight and lacking activity are predictors of heart disease and a host of other ailments, including diabetes, stroke, and death.
