Dhe previous studies had shown that abdominal obesity was an important risk factor for a first infarction, but no association had so far been documented between this obesity and the subsequent risk of heart attack.
“In fact, it is a bit obvious,” said cardiologist Martin Juneau of the Montreal Heart Institute. When the authors say that it had never been studied, it is like saying that one never studied the effect of smoking after a heart attack. Obviously if it has an effect on causing a heart attack, then it will have an effect on causing others. So, for me, it has always been obvious that abdominal obesity is a very risky situation which, even today, is a little underestimated or overlooked. “
Researchers at the prestigious Karolinska Institute in Sweden have followed more than 22,000 patients after their first infarction to study the association between abdominal obesity and secondary cardiovascular events. They were specifically interested in events caused by clogged arteries, such as heart attacks (fatal or not) and strokes.
Most subjects – 78% of men and 90% of women – suffered from abdominal obesity (a waist measurement of 94 centimeters and more for men, and 80 centimeters and more for women).
Abdominal obesity has been associated with heart attacks and strokes, regardless of factors such as smoking, diabetes, hypertension, and body mass index. Waist circumference was a more important marker of secondary events than general obesity.
Study author Dr. Hanieh Mohammadi warned that the risk of a secondary event was higher in patients with abdominal obesity, even if they were taking medication to treat the problems. associated health.
“One of the authors says that once they have had their infarction, we treat all the consequences of abdominal obesity: we treat high blood sugar with insulin resistance, we treat hypertension, we treat high cholesterol … But I am not surprised at all because we did not treat the cause, we are treating it with pills! “exclaimed Dr. Juneau.
“To give you an idea, in a young woman, say 30 to 55 years old, [l’obésité abdominale] multiplies the risk [d’infarctus] by three. “
Destabilized plates
The type of fat cells found in the viscera secretes inflammatory factors that will enter the blood system and destabilize atherosclerotic plaques in the coronary arteries, explained Dr. Juneau, in addition to disturbing cerebral circulation and cause more early dementia.
“It affects the whole system, that fat,” he said. The inflammation will help weaken the atherosclerotic plaques on the coronaries which will cause clots. What you don’t want are sores on your inflamed and crumbly coronaries. You want them to be stabilized. And to stabilize them, it takes an anti-inflammatory diet, like Mediterranean or vegetarian, and all the ingredients of a [alimentation] Mediterranean – fruits, vegetables, whole grains, omega-3s – it stabilizes the plaques because it’s very anti-inflammatory. “
Losing weight is not easy, recognizes Dr. Juneau, and it is not by increasing the sit-ups that we will get rid of our abdominal fat. The only way to fix it is to change our lifestyle habits, starting with diet and physical activity.
“If you don’t change your [alimentation], if you just take pills, the inflammation is there and the risk is there, he said. It reinforces the message for clinicians […] that even if we treated with pills for pressure, cholesterol and diabetes, if we did not resolve abdominal obesity, we did not settle much. This is fundamental. “
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