Even slightly overweight have a higher risk for Heart failure

A major US doctors’ study says that a little bit extra weight and physical inactivity can become the cause of higher risk for heart failure.

The study has been published in the Journal Circulation, Dec.23 issue. Dr. Satish Kenchaiah, who led the study, says in a news release that men who can’t be counted as obese, but are little bit overweight have a higher risk for heart failure.

Kenchiah further says, “When it’s about physical activity, even a little amount of it can be helpful to avoid heart failure risk.”

In their study, the researchers focused on nearly 20,000 docs for the period of twenty years and besides many other factors, they noted the effects of increased weight and physical activity on heart failure risk.

A BMI (Body Mass Index) of 30 or more is categorized as obese and it has been considered a cause of heart failure for quite long time.  The new study focused on those men who were touching the lines of the BMI that presented obesity and they had a BMI of 25-29.9.

The researchers noted nearly 5% fell in the category of obesity, while 40% were slightly overweight.  After in an adjustment for different risk factors including higher levels of cholesterol and, hypertension, the researchers found that slightly overweight men had a 49% higher risk for heart failure.