January 4, 2019 – Fat Distribution and Heart Failure

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Anchor lead: Where your fat is stored has important implications for heart failure, Elizabeth Tracey reports

Belly fat is bad when it comes to heart failure. That’s the finding of a study by Erin Michos, a cardiologist at Johns Hopkins, and colleagues.

Michos: Subcutaneous fat, fat that’s outside the abdominal cavity, was not linked to heart failure at all. So we think that where the fat’s located is associated with the risks and the fat that’s in the abdominal cavity with the enlarged waist is the riskier kind. Because adipose is more  than just fat storage cells, its actually metabolically active and is most linked with problems with insulin resistance and dyslipidemia. And the fat that we may not like, in our hips and out buttocks, may not look as attractive but its maybe not as dangerous as the fat around our abdominal cavity. :33

Michos says if you’re someone who just stores excess fat in your belly, as is often true for men and postmenopausal women, you may need to be extra vigilant about weight to reduce your risk for heart failure. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.