How do I live longer and healthier?

By Andrew Doan, MD, PhD

The answer to this question is clear, but Americans and citizens of industrialized nations are having difficulty achieving it. Lose weight.

In a study by Dr. Emily B. Levitan of Boston, Dr. Levitan and her team demonstrated that both body mass index (BMI) and waist size increase people’s risk of being hospitalized with heart failure or dying from heart disease. Dr. Levitan's team looked at 36,873 women aged 48 to 83 and 43,487 men 45 to 79 years old who were participating in long-term studies of the general Swedish population. During six years of follow up, 382 of the women and 718 of the men were hospitalized for heart failure or died from the disease.

Dr. Levitan’s team showed that for every additional BMI point, the risk of heart failure hospitalization or death increased by 3% in women and 7% in men. Furthermore, a 10-centimeter or ~4-inch increase in waste size increased risk by 19% in women and 30% in men!

Obesity places an incredible burden on your heart. The heart is a living pump responsible for circulating blood to all of your organs. An increase in body mass increases the working demands on your heart by requiring it to pump to more surface area. When the patient becomes obese, there is an increased risk of “pump failure”, which is also referred to as heart failure. Obesity increases blood pressure, cholesterol, and risk of developing diabetes, which are risk factors known to cause heart disease.

If you want to live longer, healthier and reduce your health care costs, then the first step is losing your excess pounds. In the next series of articles, I will write about how to determine how much food your body needs and how to lose weight without fad diets, pills, or gimmicks. If you can do basic addition and subtraction, then you can lose weight because losing weight is knowing how many calories your body needs daily and what you should eat to get those calories.

In my next article, I will discuss BMI and basic metabolic rate (BMR), and why BMI and BMR are important to losing weight.

[Index Article]

References
Large waist may boost heart failure risk. Reuters. Accessed on the web April 11, 2009.

Links to Follow-Up Articles

• What is a healthy body mass index (BMI) or body fat percentage for me?

Releated Articles

• Can Obesity Lead to Liver Disease?
• The Risks of Childhood Obesity: How do I help my child be healthy?
• How To Lose Weight and Combat Obesity
• Beating obesity: How To Maintain A Healthy Diet
• Obesity and Dangers of Fad Dieting
• Obesity – How To Calculate Your BMI
• How To Create A Healthy Lifestyle And Overcome Obesity
• The Common Warning Signs Of Obesity
• The Obesity Crisis: The High Cost of Gluttony
• How To Lose Weight On A Budget
• Obesity Quiz: Are You Obese?
• The Best Ways To Overcome Obesity and Lose Weight
• Obesity and Being Fat: Is It Really My Fault?
• Overcome Obesity and Lose Weight By Making The Right Food Choices
• Beating Childhood Obesity – How To Keep Your Kids Healthy and Thin
• Can Slimming and Diet Pills Damage Your Liver?
• Is the Credit Crunch Bad For Your Health?
• Fight the Fat