December 3, 2015 – Central Obesity

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Anchor lead:  Where fat accumulates on your body has important implications, Elizabeth Tracey reports

People who accumulate fat around their waists, called central obesity, are known to be at higher risk for heart disease than those who store the stuff in their thighs or elsewhere, but a new study shows that risk remains even when BMI is normal.  Wendy Bennett, an obesity researcher at Johns Hopkins, says men and women experienced mortality risk differently.

Bennett: Women also had higher risk if they had central obesity compared to those who did not have central obesity.  The risks were similar across all BMIs for women, so women with central obesity in the same BMI category had about a 50% higher mortality compared with those who did not have the central obesity.  For men, the risk was much higher in those who had normal BMI ranges.   :27

Bennett says physicians needs to be aware of these findings in counseling their patients about risk. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.